The Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) signed on Thursday by Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Chair Secretary Leo Tereso Magno and Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista solidified the fulfillment of the infrastructure projects in Mindanao.
The signing of MOC was among the highlights during the first day of the 1st Mindanao Infrastructure Summit held at the SMX Convention Center of SM Lanang Premier.
“DoTr and Minda signed an MOC which simply states among others na kukunsultahin ang MinDA at magtutulungan (DoTr and MinDA) para sa kabutihan at proyekto para sa buong Mindanao,” Magno said in a press conference.
The MOC cites Republic Act 9996 that mandates MinDA to facilitate a coordinated and integrated socio-economic development in Mindanao as well as establish appropriate mechanisms to ensure timely implementation of Mindanao-wide and Mindanao-specific inter-regional projects, including but not limited to, public-private partnerships.
MinDA also acts as the official and permanent Philippine Coordinating Office for BIMP-EAGA (PCOBE) as the lead agency of the government in coordinating the formulation and implementation of policies and programs.
Under the cooperation, the parties acknowledge the need to coordinate their efforts to facilitate the implementation of transport projects in the context of the National Transport Policy.
Among areas of cooperation include the parties agreed for the joint planning and programming (JPP) for the Mindanao Intermodela Transport System.
The MinDA-DoTr JPP is aimed at generating priority projects that will address the needs of Mindanao stakeholders.
The parties agree to jointly monitor the status of priority transport projects identified by the JPP to help resolve the issues and concerns that hinder its fast and timely implementation.
The parties also agree to jointly monitor the status of priority transport projects identified by the JPP to help resolve the issues and concerns that hinder its fast and timely implementation.
“All of these years we have been longing for the improvement of the facilities especially in the transport sector. We know that partial if not the most important aspect of the development of any region is that transport is stable and good,” Magno said.
Bautista said the summit is the ideal venue for DoTr to present the project of different agencies in cooperation with MinDA so that the constituents in Mindanao know what the government is doing for Mindanao.
“Kami ay naututuwa na aming na present na different projects of DoTr here in Mindanao and at the same time mailahad ang ibang projects namin sa other regions dahil ang mga taga Mindanao pumupunta ng other cities para alam din nila ang ginagawa naming sa other cities. For this particular summit kami ay natutuwa para mailahad namin ang aming mga programa,” he said.
According to DoTr Undersecretary Timothy John R. Batan, as of March 2024, there are a total of 185 infrastructure projects and from that number 69 projects are under DoTr and from that 69 projects 19 infrastructure projects are for Mindanao, which include New Zamboanga and Siargao airports, Zamboanga Public Transport Modernization Project, Davao Public Transport Modernization Project; Mindanao Rail Phase 3 Cagayan de Oro-Laguindingan to Villanueva; farm-to-market port projects; cold chain network project, RoRo Ports Project, Mindanao Railway Phase 1 (Tagum-Davao-Digos), and Laguindingan Airport.
