The Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) announced it agreed to lend P220 million to the Can-avid municipal government in Eastern Samar to fund a water service project in the fourth-class municipality of 28 barangays.
In a statement on Monday, it was detailed that Can-avid’s water system is set to be upgraded from Level 2 to Level 3 to service additional six upstream barangays—all of which are dependent on individual deep well systems.
The improvement in the water system is seen benefitting 16 barangays covering 2,360 domestic households, 127 institutional establishments and 190 commercial entities, the Landbank said.
The project is also designed to have provision for future servicing of four additional barangays.
The municipal government said the project will “deliver efficient, uninterrupted, and less expensive supply of potable water to more residents in the area, while reducing the incidence of water-borne diseases caused by unsanitary water sources by as much as 80 percent.”
“The approval of our new loan will certainly boost the morale of local leaders as it manifests the Bank’s confidence in their leadership and serves as an affirmation of the meaningful programs that we undertake,” Can-avid Mayor Gil Norman P. Germino was quoted in the statement as saying.
Germino and LandBank Samar Lending Center Head Restituta C. Ilagan led the signing of the loan agreement last July 29.
In 2007, LandBank granted the local government unit (LGU) a P14.92-million term loan for farm-to-market roads project, opening access to remote barangays and farm areas.
“LandBank’s financial services support local programs and projects geared towards accelerating local growth, which includes the construction of necessary infrastructure and improved delivery of basic services,” the bank said.
Last week, LandBank launched a 10-billion loan program aimed at boosting recovery efforts of the LGUs amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Loans will be available to eligible LGUs provided that the total loan exposure is less than their net borrowing capacity according to the computation by the Bureau of Local Government Finance. The amount of borrowings to be granted depends on the LGU’s project
requirement.
The loan will carry an interest rate of 4.5 percent per year, but subject to annual repricing after the first year based on Landbank’s prevailing interest rate. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad