GLENDA TAYONA
ILOILO – Seven big-ticket projects are up for Western Visayas for 2023 to 2028.
These infrastructure flagship projects (IFP), which are under the Regional Development Plan (RDP) for the period 2023 to 2028, are the following:
* Antique Airport Development Project
* Iloilo-Capiz-Aklan Expressway
* Panay-Guimaras-Negros Inter-Island Link Bridges
* Panay River Basin Integrated Development Project
* upgrading of the Iloilo International Container Port
* Iloilo-Santa Barbara Bus Rapid Transit, and
* revival of Panay Railway System
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Region 6 bared the first five IFP are now on the project preparation phase while the last two are currently on the pre-project preparation phase.
Project preparation is the process of analyzing and developing a project idea into a final project ready for implementation, according to cbd.int.
Also included in the region’s IFP are the ongoing construction of the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Economic Highway, Boracay Circumferential Road and Jalaur River Multi-purpose Project Stage II, said NEDA-6 Supervising Economic Development Specialist Juvelyn B. Pamonag.
Other priority development projects in the region not identified under the IFP will be included in the Regional Development Investment Program (RDIP), a supplemental document of the RDP 2023-2028.
The RDIP 2023-2028 contains the list of programs and projects to be implemented by the national government, government-owned and controlled corporations, government financial institutions, and other national government offices and instrumentalities within the medium-term that will contribute to the achievement of societal goals and targets set under the RDP.
Pamonag presented the region’s RDP 2023-2028 at the League of Local Planning and Development Coordinators – WV Regional Convention in Talisay City, Negros Occidental from March 28 to 31.
She presented the salient features of the eight-point socioeconomic agenda focused on the region’s economy and the Regional Spatial Development Strategy (RSDF) which will provide guidance in the formulation of land use and physical framework plans of the local government units (LGUs).
Anchored on the Philippine and regional development plans and guided by the National Spatial Strategy and the Visayas Spatial Development Framework, the RSDF adopts the core strategies of concentration, connectivity, and vulnerability reduction.
In the next six years, Western Visayas will rationalize development of settlements towards a sustainable economy:
* In operationalizing the concentration strategy, the region will foster sustainable urban development, increase productive capacities of agricultural land, and enhance competitiveness of industries.
* To promote connectivity, the region will improve linkages to the domestic and global economy through strengthening digital connectivity and enhancing access to domestic and global trade partners.
* In terms of reducing vulnerability, it will enhance resiliency and disaster preparedness by ensuring the protection of environmentally critical areas, building disaster and climate resilience, and improving access to social services.
* Recovering from the ill effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the region is banking on investments and will maximize its comparative advantages to strengthen the domestic economy to get back on track and attain socioeconomic transformation by 2028.
The RDP, on the other hand, having a broader perspective of the sector and spatial directions of the region’s development, will guide LGUs in crafting their local development strategies, policies, and programs and projects.
With the theme, “Planning for a Risk-Informed Development”, the four-day convention aimed to guide planners in mainstreaming climate change and disaster risk reduction processes into the formulation of Provincial Development and Physical Framework Plan, Comprehensive Land Use Plans, and other local plans.
The convention was sponsored by the Association of Planning and Development Coordinators-Negros Occidental, a chapter of the League of Local Planning and Development Coordinators-WV Regional Convention. (With reports from NEDA-6)/PN
