Stressing the need to fast-track the country’s infrastructure development, President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. has issued an order for the adoption of an integrated and harmonized process for the planning, approval, budgeting, implementation and monitoring of master plans for the infrastructure sector.

In issuing Executive Order 72, Pres. Marcos disclosed that he aims to implement an integrated master-planning development and convergence program that would lean toward sustainable, resilient and modernized infrastructure facilities and services.

According to executive secretary Lucas Bersamin, EO 72 states that all concerned government agencies are directed to formulate and update their master plans for infrastructure projects which include initiatives that would cover applicable physical spatial and other cross-cutting elements and principles such as convergence, interconnectivity, digital technologies and solutions, environmental quality and ecological integrity, sustainability, climate change resiliency, disaster risk reduction and management and gender equality, disability and social inclusion.

Bersamin explained that through EO 72, all government agencies must ensure complementarity in their proposed master plans with land use and urban planning initiatives, especially those with inter-sectoral coverage and concerns as well as alignment with other plans, programs and projects at the national and regional levels.

“Agencies are likewise ordered to consult relevant stakeholders, including academe, civil society organizations, and business sector and ensure that key infrastructure projects are consistent with the Public Investment Program and the three-year Rolling Infrastructure Program of the government,” the Palace official added.

Based on the EO, all master plans of national scope for the infrastructure sector and its subsectors, including transportation, water resources, energy, information and communications technology and social infrastructure, among others, must be submitted and approved by the Committee on Infrastructure (InfraCom), under the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, before their adoption and implementation.

Master plans with significant impact on cities, municipalities and regions shall likewise be endorsed by the concerned Regional Development Council prior to submission to the InfraCom.