Catanduanes Forum

Just want to let you know that JICA recently signed a grant to improve PAGASA equipment. I spoke with PAGASA Director Prisco D. Nilo and he said that the first recipient of the new equipment will be Catanduanes. Expect this project to start by December 2009.

the article below is from www.businessmirror.com.ph
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RP, Japan sign P2.095-B grant for radar systems, bridges, scholarships
Written by Cai U. Ordinario / Reporter
Wednesday, 27 May 2009 23:27

THE national government and the government of Japan signed a P2.095-billion grant to improve the Philippines’ radar systems, to fund bridge construction, and provide master’s degree scholarships for Filipino students.

The grant was extended to the Philippines through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), which took over the official development assistance (ODA) functions from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) last year.

The grant will finance the P1.644-billion Improvement of the Meteorological Radar System in the Philippines; the P302-million Project for the Bridge Construction for Expanded Agrarian Reform Communities Development; and the P149-million Japanese Grant Aid for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS).

“We are grateful for the Japanese government’s initiatives to provide, among others, radar systems, dams and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure. [These] provide very significant assistance in meeting our goals and priorities,” National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Director General Ralph Recto said in a statement during the signing ceremonies that took place in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

“We also take note that this radar-system project is so far the biggest Japanese grant-assisted project provided to the Philippines, with amount totaling more than P1.6 billion,” Recto said.

The Improvement of the Meteorological Radar System in the Philippines project was proposed by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa). It involved the replacement of the three existing Meteorological Radar Systems in Aparri in Cagayan, Virac in Catanduanes and Guian in Samar.

The meteorological systems will be replaced with Doppler (S-band) Radar Systems, which aim to prevent damages caused by tropical cyclones and other severe weather phenomena by enhancing the capability of Pagasa in weather-monitoring and weather-information/warning dissemination. Other neighboring countries are also expected to benefit from the project.

The Bazal Bridge project, meanwhile, involves the construction and replacement of the existing timber-type bridge, which covers a total length of 110 lineal meters and 4 meters width as carriageway that will cross Bazal River along the boundary between barangays Bazal and Malasin in Maria Aurora, Aurora province.

On the other hand, the JDS aims to provide Filipinos the opportunity to obtain a master’s degree at Japanese universities to support human-resource development policy of the national government, and eventually to extend and strengthen the bilateral relationship between Japan and the Philippines.

The JDS project will finance 20 scholarship slots for young government employees who are expected to play leadership roles in the Philippines and those who will contribute to the socioeconomic development of the country in economics, business administration, public administration, information and communications technology, and industrial development.

Of the total 159 grantees since the first batch in 2003, 84 have graduated and came back to the country, most of them working in the original organization to comply with their service contract and to utilize their skills and knowledge gained in Japan.

Around 50 grantees also have ongoing studies in Japan and 25 more successful candidates were selected under the seventh batch for July 2009 intake.

“We hope that these projects will proceed as scheduled,” Jica chief representative Norio Matsuda said during his speech at the signing ceremonies.

In October of last year, Jica and JBIC merged to form the New Jica, the world’s largest bilateral aid agency. As part of this realignment, JBIC’s Overseas Economic Cooperation Operations and part of the grant aid provided by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs were integrated with the technical cooperation offered by Jica.

Since the merger, Japanese government has committed Grant Aid (G/A) for the Project for the Bridge Construction for Expanded Agrarian Reform Communities Development, Grant Assistance for Underprivileged Farmers (GAUF), Improvement of the Meteorological Radar System in the Philippines, and Japanese Grant Assistance for the Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship/JDS for the eighth batch of scholars.

Of these projects, grant agreements were signed for the detailed design study of Bazal Bridge worth P6.5 million and GAUF worth P240 million on April 20, 2009.

On May 27, 2009, grant agreements will be signed by Jica and Neda on behalf of Philippine government for the Construction of Bazal Bridge, Improvement of the Meteorological Radar System in the Philippines and JDS.