The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) yesterday endorsed a proposed executive order (EO) that will expedite the processing of licenses, clearances, permits, certifications, and authorizations for Infrastructure Flagship Projects (IFPs).
NEDA also endorsed a proposal to eliminate the 3-percent tariff on gypsum and anhydrite, which are used in construction to help advance infrastructure development in the country.
Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, in a briefing after a Cabinet sectoral meeting with President Marcos Jr. in Malacanang yesterday, said the NEDA Board also approved the reconstitution of its Committee on Infrastructure (INFRACOM) which would now include the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) as its members.
Balisacan said the inclusion of DENR would ensure infrastructure development takes into account ecosystem protection, rehabilitation and management, sustainability, and resilience as well as the representation of the water sector.
The DICT’s presence will help ensure that ICT-related considerations are included in the committee’s deliberations and decisions.
Balisacan said the Office of the Executive Secretary will be “scrubbing for technicalities” a proposed draft EO on processing of IFPs.
The EO would be issued “very soon,” he said.
Balisacan said the EO aims to minimize, if not eliminate, delays in the implementation of IFPs and requires all government offices, agencies, and instrumentalities including LGUs, to streamline the standard procedure and simplify the requirements for the IFP.
It will also facilitate the electronic application submissions to the concerned agencies and local government units (LGUs), including the
payments and issuance of receipts; direct national government agencies to automate and computerize their databases; and promote data sharing among government agencies in order to eliminate the unnecessary duplication of document submission.
It also mandates the establishment of electronic business one-stop shops (EBOSS) among LGUs and encourages them to coordinate with
the DICT to adopt interoperable ICT platforms.
Balisacan said reduction of tariffs on natural gypsum and anhydrite, which are not produced locally, will help lower the production costs and improve the infrastructure industry’s competitiveness.
Gypsum and anhydrite are used in the production of plasterboard and cement.
