Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III (Courtesy of DAR)
MANILA – All Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) regional and provincial officials must monitor all completed rural infrastructure sub-projects and ensure that they are operational and well maintained.
DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III, in a news release on Tuesday, said projects that have been completed, especially foreign-assisted special projects, and turned over to local government units (LGUs) should be properly maintained and functioning according to their designs and purposes.
DAR Undersecretary for Support Services lawyer Milagros Isabel Cristobal urged all DAR field program officers to institutionalize the conduct of the sustainability, monitoring, and evaluation (SME) scheme “to preserve and restore the system of completed sub-projects.”
“We need to maintain in good condition completed foreign-assisted special sub-projects according to their designs and accepted configurations to offset the effects of weather, organic growth, traffic wear, damage or vandalism and to preclude deterioration of structures and appurtenant facilities over time,” Cristobal said
She added that a periodic SME on completed and turned-over rural infrastructure sub-projects should be conducted as part of the beneficiaries’ development program.
Cristobal emphasized the importance of proper coordination with concerned LGUs for the monitoring of their compliance in providing operational and maintenance funds during the 10-year reglementary period from the date of the project turnover.
She said that providing operational and maintenance funds for DAR’s foreign-assisted special projects are clearly stipulated in the memoranda of agreement among DAR, LGUs, and foreign financing institutions.
In case of negligence, the financial grants for the implementation of the projects will be reverted to loans and shouldered by the LGUs.
“Keeping these rural infrastructures at their best condition helps sustain the gains the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program has worked for through the years,” Estrella said. (PNA)
