MCC funded Kalahi CIDSS project inaugurated in Lapaz

By Provincial Media Relations Center
October 20, 2012

TACLOBAN CITY  –  Leyte Gov. Carlos Jericho Petilla said Kalahi-CIDSS principles provide the very essence of how his governance and project implementation under his three-term administration in the province of Leyte.

This the governor stressed during the turn-over of a Kalahi-CIDSS school building project funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Brgy. Sta. Elena, Lapaz, Leyte recently.

“We have been very supportive of Kalahi-CIDSS as it mirrors our idea of a community driven development. The projects are identified by the communities and the implementation is done by the people themselves. This is actually the same process that we have been doing for our community development projects in Leyte,” Gov. Petilla told the mission.

He likewise disclosed that the provincial government has always been supportive of the principle of engaging the community in identifying the projects they most need in the community and including them in the decision making. Kalahi-CIDSS implementation allows the community to “choose, design, and implement sub-projects that address their most pressing need.”

The governor likewise disclosed that he approved the counterparting scheme employed by Kalahi-CIDDS for each of the project implemented.

MCC CEO Daniel Yohannes, together with DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman, led the inauguration of a one-classroom school building in Barangay Sta. Elena in La Paz, Leyte, one of 11 completed KALAHI-CIDSS sub-projects turned over to the barangays during the CEO’s visit to the municipality.

The other sub-projects consist of five concrete pathwalks/tirepath with a total length of 1,190 meters; 2 Level 1 pump-driven water supply systems; two drainage canals with a total of 758 linear meters; and one concrete box culvert of 11 linear meters.

Total cost of the sub-projects amounted to P5.3 million with P1.28 million covered by local counterpart and the rest by the MCC grant. The sub-projects are expected to benefit 1,081 households in the municipality.

KALAHI-CIDSS, a community-based rural development program for poor communities, is one of three projects in the Philippines funded by the US Government under MCC.