AGRICULTURE-RELATED projects in Pangasinan implemented under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) are almost complete and the next challenge is ensuring sustainability, a World Bank (WB) official said. “As the PRDP projects near completion, it is another challenge for us in terms of the sustainability part, particularly on how to maintain the projects,” Frauke Jungbluth, team leader of WB’s implementation support mission, said during the North Luzon cluster meeting of the 8th World Bank Implementation Support Mission held June 7 in Calasiao, Pangasinan. In a statement posted on the Pangasinan provincial government’s official social media page, Vice-Governor (VG) Jose Ferdinand Z. Calimlim Jr., representing the governor at the forum, thanked WB executives for the PRDP grants. At the same time, Mr. Calimlim raised the suggestion on the need to simplify the processing of papers for acquiring funding. Ms. Jungbluth “responded to the query on PRDP processing in a positive note,” the provincial government said. The PRDP is a nationwide WB-funded program with the Department of Agriculture (DA) as lead implementing agency. “Pangasinan has the largest portfolio of PRDP infrastructure and enterprise sub-projects in Region 1,” said DA Regional Director Lucrecio R. Alviar, Jr. as he lauded the province for its active engagement to the PRDP. He said Pangasinan was granted seven infrastructure sub-projects worth P581.94-M, and 36 enterprise sub-projects worth Php60.14-M., which is second highest in the country.

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