By Anna liza Cabrido/Philippine News Agency
GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-Region 12 and the city government has created a special committee to assist the development of the city’s Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Development (SUID) master plan.
Teresita Socorro Ramos, NEDA-12 director, said Wednesday the project implementation committee is tasked to ensure the smooth and effective formulation of the master plan that will guide the city’s infrastructure development programs and projects.
Ramos said the creation of the committee was an offshoot of an agreement with the local government in connection with the PHP63 million SUID project.
“It will serve as the project’s senior level local counterpart for policy and direction setting and to facilitate inter-organization coordination,” she said in a statement.
The committee consists of officials and representatives from the departments of Public Works and Highways, Environment and Natural Resources, Transportation, Information and Communication Technology, Energy, Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Tourism, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, General Santos City Water District, South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative, and the General Santos City Chamber of Commerce.
Ramos said the master plan will guide decision-makers in the “preparation and approval of plans, policies, programs, activities, and projects for implementation in the urban center “and thus ultimately improve the competitiveness, security and resiliency from disaster, and general urban conditions of General Santos City.”
NEDA-12 is the main implementing agency of the project, which is due for completion this year.
The agency and the city government has tapped four consulting groups — Orient Integrated Development Consultants Inc., Engineering and Development Corporation of the Philippines, Pacific Rim Innovation and Management Exponents Inc. and CEST Incorporated — for the formulation of the master plan.
Ramos said the consultants have guaranteed that the formulation of the master plan will complement the current infrastructure initiatives of the city.
These include the construction of road overpasses, road concreting from the Bulaong or city transport terminal to city international airport, construction of the proposed people’s park, improvement of the public markets and the local transportation system and the modernization of the Makar Wharf.
It will also complement the city’s climate and disaster risk assessment and enhanced comprehensive land use plan, she added.
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