PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan – The infrastructure projects of the provincial government of Palawan will have to undergo strict climate resilience proofing, in line with the prescribed guidelines approved through a Provincial Board ordinance.
Engineer Gilda Garibay, implementation officer of the Climate Resilient Green Growth (CRGG) project, said Wednesday this will happen after they have completed the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Provincial Ordinance No. 1865.
The measure prescribing the Climate Resilience and Green Growth Framework (CRGGF) for the province was signed by Governor Jose Alvarez on December 6, 2017.
Garibay said the ordinance urges all agencies of the national, provincial, and municipal governments, as well as the private sector, to strictly adhere to the CRGG framework on “climate-proofing” their infrastructure plans.
She said it also mandates that all regulatory agencies inspect and assess infrastructure projects under the framework before they are issued licenses, clearances, and other necessary permits.
“Ang IRR natin ay parang checklist yan ng mga projects. Papasok ba sya sa ganito at kung hindi ay hindi sya aaprubahan (Our IRRs are like a checklist of all project requirements. Is the project climate resilient before it is approved? If not, then it will not be approved),” Garibay said.
Garibay said with the CRGG framework, proposed infrastructure projects should always consider green growth and resiliency to avoid climate change impacts.
The provincial ordinance, she said, is due to the CRGG project that is jointly implemented by the Climate Change Commission, Global Green Growth Institute, and the Palawan government.
“We already made it a policy that all programs and projects of the province should undergo climate-proofing so when the administration changes, the process will not be affected,” she said.
Garibay cited as example the municipality of Brooke’s Point, which should become a “green city” once its urbanization pushes through.
“The power source we are promoting is solar so there should be an identified location for it. We are now making a proposed funding proposal for this,” she explained.
The ordinance was authored by Board Member Albert Rama. (Celeste Anna Formoso/PNA)
