NEDA Board OKs P30.5B school buildings resiliency project

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., on Wednesday approved a multi-billion peso project aimed at rehabilitating and reconstructing school facilities outside Metro Manila damaged by calamities.

In a statement, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said the NEDA Board gave the thumbs up for the P30.56 billion Infrastructure for Safer and Resilient Schools (ISRS) Project.

The ISRS Project is set to be funded by an official development assistance (ODA) loan from the World Bank-International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The initiative will be implemented by the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The PCO said of the total P30.56 billion project cost P27.50 billion will be funded by loan proceeds while the remaining P3.06 billion will be financed by the national government.

The ISRS Project is set to be implemented from 2025 to 2029.

The project involves the repair, rehabilitation, retrofitting, and reconstruction of school facilities outside the National Capital Region, which were damaged by various disasters between 2019 and 2023.

The PCO said the project is expected to benefit 1,282 schools, 4,756 school buildings, 13,101 classrooms, and 741,038 learners.

Among the components of the project include Relatively Simple Works for School Infrastructure Recovery and Operations and Maintenance with a P9.65 billion allocation and Relatively Complex Works for School Infrastructure Recovery with P19.81 billion budget, the Palace said.

Another component of the ISRS will be the Project Management, Monitoring, and Evaluation with P1.1 billion budget allocation.

“The project aims to build classrooms that will be better in case of future hazard events in order to ensure functional continuity of the educational system and reduce disruptions in learning,” the PCO said. —VAL, GMA Integrated News