Monday, April 02, 2007 US to pour $145M for Mindanao dev't in next 5 years
THE Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) will be extended for another five years at a tune of between $125 million to $145 million to further spur development in the island.
Raymond L. Edler, USAid supervisory regional contracting officers, said they are looking for a contractor to implement the program across Mindanao.
Interested contractors are given until April 27 to submit their proposals for GEM's phase III program.
The extended program will focus on infrastructure development, with each project cost in the barangay level pegged between $5,000 to $50,000.
Regional impact projects will have construction cost exceeding $50,000 up to $4 million.
The GEM Phase II program, which focused on livelihood development, is winding up this year. Its contractor is Louis Berger Group Phils., Inc.
Aside from the basic contract of up to $145 million, the new five-year program is allocating $12 million to $16 million for optional components.
Edler said they have set a pre-proposal conference on March 23 at USAid's office in Pres. Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard, Pasay City to allow interested contractors opportunity to ask questions.
The GEM program has been USAid's "flagship" activity in Mindanao since 1996, the development agency said in a briefer.
It is the largest and best known of all the various USAID programs and activities in Mindanao. It is an "umbrella" program under which USAid is able to support a wide range of different activities in Mindanao, all intended to contribute to peace and development in Mindanao.
Initially conceived as a five-year program which would run from 1996 through 2001, USAid subsequently decided that the GEM program was such a useful and effective effort that it would continue the program through to the end of 2007.
At this point, because the GEM program has continued to be useful and effective, USAid has decided to support a GEM-III program.
The new GEM-III program will have many of the attributes and follow many of the same practices that have contributed to the success of the GEM-I and GEM-II programs.
As was the case with the earlier programs, it will have a substantial “on the ground” presence throughout Mindanao, and thus will be in position to learn about emerging opportunities and emerging problems that may be addressed by GEM- III.
Mindanao, home to about 22 million people, has been the site of Islamic rebellion for more than three decades now. (BSS)
