DBP spearheads SLDP initiative

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo urged concerned government agencies and the private sector to further intensify efforts for the early implementation of the sustainable logistics development program (SLDP) of the government.

Arroyo said the SLDP aims to improve the country’s basic infrastructure for the efficient movement of basic commodities through the introduction of modern storage handling and transport system under proper quality control management. The President also said that the program would spur greater economic activity in the countryside.

The program is expected to drastically reduce the price of basic commodities in line with the government’s poverty alleviation program and the attainment of food sufficiency at the local, regional and national levels.

It has three major components, namely, the establishment of a grains highway, a road-Ro/Ro (roll-on/roll-off) ferry network and a cold chain.

Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) chairman Vitaliano N. Nañagas II told Arroyo that the state-owned bank would help catalyze private sector participation in the SLDP.

In a presentation, Nañagas said that the bank could provide the medium- and long-term development loans to the private sector and local government units (LGUs) for various projects such as Ro/Ro vessels, Ro/Ro ports, processing and marketing centers, aggregating centers, reefer transport equipment, and bulk terminals, handling and transport equipment.

"Based on a study undertaken by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), waste and spoilage in transporting fruits and vegetables from farmlands to end-users is about 40 percent or equivalent to P30-billion annually," the DBP chairman said. "In the case of transporting corn, spoilage loss is about 20 percent of national production amounting to P4.5 billion annually."

However, the program preparation is not yet finished as it covers a lot of areas and more studies, and that coordination with other government agencies and the private sector remain undone.