MANILA: The country should not wait any longer to come up with a Comprehensive Infrastructure Development Master Plan that will serve as a blueprint for government departments in the construction, upgrading, and improvement of infrastructure projects for the next thirty years or more, according to Senator JV Ejercito on Friday.
Ejercito’s Senate Bill No. 158, also known as the Comprehensive Infrastructure Development Master Plan, aims to create a developed, integrated and coordinated infrastructure development that will require every administration to implement.
Through the master plan, Ejercito believes that there will no longer be a place for “impulsive and careless constructions.”
“Maikli ang termino ng bawat pangulo dahil sa ating political system. Ang administrasyon, kadalasan short to medium term lamang ang mga programang nagagawa at natatapos (The term of every president is short because of our political system. The administration, usually, could only implement and complete short to medium term prog
rams),” Ejercito said in a radio interview.
“But if you talk about big-ticket items, like infrastructure development, railway systems, airports, ports, power plants, water management, dapat yan (there should be) long-term planning. Minsan po (Sometimes, it takes) 20, 30, even 50 years of research, study, planning, execution, and implementation,” he added.
He said it will deter corruption in public works as standards would be set and any subpar structure will be clearly noticeable.
“‘Yan po ang aking idea diyan na kahit sino ang pangulo, dapat itong nasa Comprehensive Master Plan for Infra Development magtuloy-tuloy po. ‘Yung mga pangulo may sariling programa pero ‘yung infrastructure development dapat magtuloy-tuloy (That’s my idea that no matter who the president is, items in the Comprehensive Master Plan for Infra Development should be continued. The presidents have their own programs but infrastructure development must continue),” Ejercito stressed.
Having a long-term plan, the senator added, entices f
oreign investors to do business in the country after having been assured that continued development will bring them more profit.
‘More businesses would mean more job opportunities for our Filipinos and stimulate growth in the countryside,’ Ejercito said.
Source: Philippines News Agency
