The World Bank has flagged the delay in implementing the over one-year-old Philippine fisheries and coastal resiliency project (FishCoRe), for which the Marcos administration had borrowed $176 million (over P9.9 billion).
"Despite the progress made, the project is still falling behind the overall implementation schedule," the Washington-based multilateral lender said in a Sept. 7 implementation status and results report.
The loan for this fisheries project was approved by the World Bank board in May of last year. The Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) is implementing the project from August 2023 to December 2029.
To date, $29.7 million (nearly P1.7 billion), or 16.9 percent of the loan amount, has been disbursed.
The World Bank downgraded the project's overall implementation progress to "moderately satisfactory" from "satisfactory" previously.
Despite the lag in implementation, the World Bank said progress towards achieving its project development objective remained "satisfactory" to date. The overall risk rating was also maintained at "moderate."
The project's development objectives included managing the targeted fisheries resources while enhancing the value of fisheries production to coastal communities in the selected fisheries management areas (FMAs), the World Bank noted.
This project was expected to benefit 1.15 million fisherfolk, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and coastal community residents, the lender said last year.
During the first year of project implementation, the World Bank said key progresses were achieved, including: adoption of framework plans for FMAs 6 and 9; drafting of fishery management as well as national aquaculture development and management plans; updating of the fishery information management system (FIMS); as well as development and integration into FIMS of the aquaculture in fisheries geospatial information system, among others.
FMAs 6 and 9, which are the focus of this project, are located on the northwest Luzon coast and in the archipelagic waters between the Visayas and Mindanao, respectively.
Moving forward, the World Bank said it will "provide close support and training on fiduciary and ESF [environmental and social framework] requirements" while "(continuing) to leverage funding to provide technical assistance, especially on TOR [terms of reference] and specification development."
This loan was among the six totaling $2.3 billion that the Philippines borrowed from the World Bank during fiscal year 2023 covering July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
These six new loans obtained by the Marcos administration will be repaid during a period ranging between 2028 and 2052.
The Philippines was the World Bank's fifth-biggest borrower during the lender's 2023 fiscal year, which coincided with President Marcos' first full year in office.
The World Bank is currently crafting its lending plan for the Philippines for the years 2025 to 2028, during which the country will likely climb to upper middle-income status and gradually stop enjoying cheap loans extended by multilateral and bilateral lenders.