Gov’t sets infra links for 12 industries
The Roads Leveraging Linkages for Industry and Trade (ROLL IT), which aligns the country’s infrastructure development projects with industry and trade development thrusts, identified these as:electronics manufacturing services, automotive and auto parts, aerospace parts, chemicals, shipbuilding, furniture and garments, tool and die, agribusiness as part of the manufacturing sector, information technology-business process management, transport and logistics, tourism and construction industries.
In a recent consultation, the DTI’s industry development arm, Board ofInvestments (BOI), urged industry stakeholders to already prepare their infrastructure project proposals intended to further spur the local industries’ growth, development and competitiveness.
ROLL IT is a convergence program between DTI and DPWH to jointly undertake the planning, budgeting, advocacy for legislation, identification, evaluation, prioritization, regulation, supervision, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of industry development infrastructure projects in priority economic and manufacturing zones in the Philippines.
ROLL IT is covered by a memorandum of agreement between the DTI and the DPWH as an offshoot of the Manufacturing Summit in 2016.
The qualified project proposals will be included in the DPWH’s budget line items for fiscal year 2018.
Considered as one of the platforms of the administration in ushering the era of the “Golden Age of Infrastructure” for the country with a national infrastructure budget of around P8 trillion through 2022, ROLL IT leverages on the success and experiences of the DPWH and the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) similar convergence program which aims to upgrade infrastructure leading to tourist destinations.
RafaelitaAldaba, DTI assistant secretary, said these priority industries can avail of the ROLL IT program.
“This is part of our New Industrial Policy where infrastructure spending is a national priority and an efficient infrastructure system is important for the competitiveness of our industries. Coordination is crucial among government agencies including the local government units, the local industries and other relevant stakeholders in achieving our goals,” Aldaba said.
Ma. Corazon Halili-Dichosa, BOI executive director, who discussed the criteria and process involved in the ROLL IT program, said the projects given priority are those that will strengthen the growth of industries, notably those in the sectors included in the Industry Roadmapping Program and the Investment Priorities Plan.
Dichosa said as part of the pre-qualification documents, BOI will issue a certification that the industry is in the top 12 priority industries or among the 42 industries with roadmaps, or those included in the Comprehensive National Industrial Strategy.
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