By Carina L. Cayon

Davao City (7 May) -- The Regional Development Council XI has approved and adopted the region's Annual Investment Program (AIP) for year 2011 involving an amount of P20.5 billion comprising of programs, activities and projects (PAPs) of various government agencies.

The figure constitutes the proposed PAPs for implementation next year by the agency regional offices (AROs), state universities and colleges (SUCs), and special development agencies (SDAs) in the region.

The region's AIP for 2011 was reviewed and deliberated on Tuesday (May 4, 2010) by the officers and members of RDC-XI during its 2nd quarterly meeting held at NEDA-RDC XI Center in the city.

Ma. Lourdes D. Lim, regional director of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and RDC-XI vice-chair, presided over the meeting in lieu of RDC-XI President Vicente T. Lao who was out of the country.

According to Lim, the approved AIP for next year has decreased by about P6.8 billion or 25 percent less compared to last year's proposals that were endorsed by the Council.

Lim explained that before the AIP 2011 was deliberated and approved by the Council, the proposed PAPs of each agency underwent thorough preliminary evaluation by NEDA (RDC-XI's Technical Secretariat) and RDC's four (4) Sectoral Committees, namely: the economic, social, infrastructure and development administration sectors.

Lim revealed that the infrastructure sector proposals "continue to dominate next year's AIP with a total cost of almost P11.6 billion."

She stated that about P6.1 billion worth of project proposals came from the social sector, while the economic sector has P2 billion.

The least amount of P921 million worth of proposals was generated by the development administration sector, Lim said.

Under the economic sector, only the following 11 agencies out of 15 submitted their proposals: ATI, DA, DAR, DENR, DOST, DOT, DTI, FIDA, MGB, PCA, and SPDA.

DA has the largest cost of project proposal amounting to P880 million that aspires to address the goal on increased job creation through improved economic growth in the entire region.

Said goal is one of the five goals identified as development outcomes of the current Davao Regional Development Plan, Lim bared.

For the social sector, there were nine (9) agencies that submitted proposals namely: DepEd, DOH, DOLE, DSWD, POPCOM, NCIP, NHA, NNC, and TESDA. On the other hand, following SUCs also submitted their proposals: DNSC, DOSCST, UPMin, USEP and SPAMAST.

Out of the P6.1 billion cost under social sector, DepED got the largest slice of more than P3 billion, aiming to address all five goals: (1) increased job creation through improved economic growth; (2) enhanced social development with direct poverty reduction measures; (3) improved physical planning and sustainable management of the environment; (4) improved infrastructure and logistics support; and (5) good governance.

With the infrastructure proposals' total amount of P11.4 billion, DPWH has proposed its PAPs with a cost of over P10.2 billion to cover the entire region. The infrastructure proposals aim to address the goal on improved infrastructure and logistics support.

Apart from DPWH, the agencies that submitted proposals were: DOE, NIA and PPA.

The proposed projects under the development administration sector are intended to address the goal on good governance.

BFP got the largest cost of more than P757 million. Other agencies with PAPs under the development administration sector were BJMP, DILG and PNP.

Lim explained that the preparation of the AIP is "part of the continuing effort of RDC XI in complying with its mandate of prioritizing sectoral investments in the region for funding and implementation."

She said that the AIP preparation is a necessary step prior to the budget preparation exercise by the AROs, SUCs and SDAs. The RDC also undergoes the budgeting review process annually.