COTABATO CITY โ Select personnel of the Bangsamoro Planning and Development Authority (BPDA) underwent a five-day โTrainersโ Training on Basic Concepts and Principles of Feasibility Studyโ held on May 8-12, 2023, at Em Manor Hotel and Convention Center in this city.
Facilitated by Ever J. Abasolo, this training aimed to capacitate the said personnel who are members of the Technical Review Committee on Feasibility Studies/Research Studies (TRC FS/RS), which is in line with the preparation of feasibility studies. Said committee was established to review, assess, and provide technical inputs during the deliberation of proposed feasibility studies and research studies in the BARMM.
As the BARMMโs socio-economic planning and development authority, BPDA wants to ensure that the proposed programs and projects are responsive to the needs of the region.
To ensure its responsiveness, conducting feasibility studies is needed, particularly in the aspect of analyzing the viability of proposed programs and projects.
Engr. Amil J. Abubakar, BPDA Deputy Bangsamoro Director General, said that the knowledge and skills acquired in this training are critical in the effective execution of BPDAโs mandate as the planning arm of the Bangsamoro government.
He also underscored that a feasibility study is a crucial tool that allows us to assess the viability and potential impact of a proposed project before investing significant time, money, and resources.
โIt is an essential step towards ensuring that only feasible and sustainable programs and projects are implemented, thus saving the region from losing precious resources on unfeasible endeavors,โ he stressed.
During the training, the participants were divided into groups and directed to discuss the terms of reference (TOR) given by Abasolo, an economic expert who initially did a lecture on the project development cycle. Among the topics included during group discussions were the TORโs strong and weak points. The participants gave their recommendations to further enhance the said document.
The decision-making tools such as the net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), benefit-cost ratio (BCR), and sensitivity analysis (SA) which are used to evaluate the viability of programs and projects were also discussed during the training. Part of solving these decision-making tools is identifying and measuring benefits and costs. In a group activity, the participants identified the benefits and costs based on the given sample projects.
As part of the trainerโs training, a field activity was conducted at the Municipality of Parang, Maguindanao del Norte on May 15-16, 2023. (๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐ฟ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐-๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ค๐๐กโ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐โ๐๐, ๐ต๐๐ท๐ด-๐ต๐ด๐ ๐๐)