BRIDGE LGUs in BaSulTa prioritize local investment

IPMO RD Noor Saada together with technical coaches from DAF, BFAR, DOST, DTI and DOT
reviewing an LGU proposal as municipal participants explain the context and additional details of their proposal.

Zamboanga City - The Autonomous Regional Government headed by Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman through the Integrated Project Management Office (IPMO) consulted with the nine (9) target BaSulTa municipalities regarding their priority development to be funded out of the ARMM BRIDGE project, on October 29-30, 2015 at Lantaka Hotel in this city.

The ARMM Bangsamoro Regional Inclusive Development for Growth and Empowerment (BRIDGE) aims to support the development of local areas outside of the capital town to spur economic development through additional investment in agriculture, fisheries, trading and tourism.

In his message IPMO Regional Director Noor Saada emphasized the need to spur local economic growth both as a mechanism for poverty reduction and local development. He pointed to municipal participants to consider "return on investment" (ROI), and not just dole-out mentality. This means, LGU should think of ROI to operate and manage their proposed facilities and equipment efficiently and sustainably. It is also important to think of maximum benefits, or ensuring that their proposals reach a bigger chunk of the local population or provide services that further promote cohesion and good governance.

Similar activity will be undertaken for mainland municipalities on November 5-6, 2015, at Cotabato City.

Over half billion worth infra projects to roll out in ARMM

COTABATO CITY – Over P636 million worth of infrastructure projects “are expected to roll out immediately” within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) after two memorandums of agreement were signed on Friday.

ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman, who led the signing of the agreements, said the infrastructure projects “will roll out immediately after a series of simultaneous preparations were conducted.”

One hundred barangays located in 82 towns across the ARMM will benefit from the 2015 ARMM Health, Education, Livelihood, Peace and Governance and Synergy (HELPS) support infrastructure projects.

The ARMM’s Integrated Project Management Office (IPMO) oversees the implementation of the 2015 HELPS projects. It also serves as the fund manager and lead agency in monitoring and evaluation of district engineering offices to ensure high quality, on-time delivery, and consistency with respect to the program of work.

Noor Saada, regional director of IPMO-ARMM, said 506 HELPS infrastructure projects will be built, amounting to about P512 million. The projects include the construction of barangay halls; multi-purpose buildings; children’s parks; barangay health stations; water, waste and sanitation facilities; botika ng barangay; community learning centers; and support to livelihood activities.

“The projects were identified by residents and stakeholders of target communities,” Saada said. Details of the projects were communicated with partner line agencies to ensure propriety and complementation, to avoid duplication, and to promote synergy.

Saada noted that ARMM HELPS projects in 2013-2014 have a completion rate of about 80 to 90%.

Meanwhile, a memorandum of agreement for the concreting of three roads in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur was also signed on Friday between the region’s Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-ARMM) and three municipal government units.

Don Mustapha Loong, regional secretary of DPWH-ARMM, said the concreting of three roads is worth P124 million. The projects in Maguindanao include the concreting of the four-kilometer Parang-Buldon Road in the towns of Parang and Buldon worth P72 million and the two-kilometer Macabiso-Namuken Taraken Road in Sultan Mastura worth P40 million.

The one-kilometer, P12 million, Tubok Municipal Road in Tamparen, Lanao del Sur will also be built.
The regional government has chosen the three towns as partners in the implementation for their capability to undertake such infrastructure projects.

“These projects are part of the continuing legacy of the reform agenda of Governor Mujiv Hataman and DPWH-ARMM to close the gap in terms of unpaved national, provincial and municipal roads in the ARMM,” Loong said. (Bureau of Public Information)

Source:

• ARMM Regional Website: http://www.armm.gov.ph/over-p636-million-worth-infra-projects-to-roll-out-in-armm/
• Mindanao Examiner: http://mindanaoexaminer.com/over-p636-million-worth-infra-projects-to-roll-out-in-armm/
• Zamboanga Today: http://www.zamboangatoday.ph/index.php/top-stories/21005-over-p636-million-worth-infra-projects-to-roll-out-in-armm.html
• Philippine Information Agency: http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1521441534601/over-p636-million-worth-infra-projects-to-roll-out-in-armm

PhilStar: ARMM gov’t inks deal to help poor communities

Officials affix their signatures to an agreement involving the eight District Engineering Offices in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the Health, Education, Livelihood, Peace and Governance Synergy (HELPS) Program of the executive department of ARMM. Philstar.com/John Unson

By John Unson (philstar.com) | Updated September 4, 2015 - 2:14pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Officials on Friday expanded the service network of the Health, Education, Livelihood, Peace and Governance Synergy (HELPS) program of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The HELPS program, launched in 2013, is meant to hasten the restoration of normalcy in impoverished peasant and fishing communities.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, Regional Public Works Secretary Don Mustapha Loong and the chiefs of the region’s eight district engineering offices (DEOs) signed here an agreement binding them to cooperate in the implementation of HELPS infrastructure projects.

The project involves 100 barangays located in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, both in mainland Mindanao, and the islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Hataman said the DEOs will implement this time HELPS infrastructure thrusts, to be bankrolled by the ARMM government.

He said the infrastructure interventions are needed to expedite the socio-economic growth of barangays that are still reeling from the adverse effects of armed conflicts and natural calamities in decades past.

The ARMM will supervise and fund HELPS infrastructure initiatives through its Integrated Project Management Office (IPMO) in Cotabato City.

Besides its economic agenda, HELPS is also aimed at decreasing infant and maternal mortality and malnutrition among school children, provide children access to public schools, extend livelihood interventions to villagers and to foster peace through efficient community governance.

The ARMM launched the HELPS program in 2013 in selected barangays, mostly in far-flung areas, where presence of government is virtually unfelt.

“So far we have 80 to 90 percent accomplishment of the initial HELPS projects in the region,” Hataman said.

Hataman said more HELPS projects will be implemented soon with the help of the DPWH-ARMM and its component DEOs in the region’s five component provinces.

Nor Saada, chief of the IPMO, said the 100 HELPS beneficiary-barangays are scattered across 82 of the region’s more than a hundred municipalities.

Saada also affixed his signature to the agreements signed on Friday by Hataman, Loong and the ARMM’s district engineers at the Office of the Regional Governor in Cotabato City.

The HELPS program aims to construct 506 infrastructure facilities needed in the promotion of ARMM’s education, security and public administration interventions for target barangays.

“This is delivering services right at the doorstep of these recipient-barangays,” Saada said.

The infrastructure projects will include facilities needed to boost productivity of peasant and fishing communities.