Japan offers to help Davao City craft dev’t plan

THE JAPANESE government will provide Davao City technical assistance to come up with an urban development plan.

The aim is to better prepare the country’s biggest city for an expected business and tourism boom.

Last June 21, Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Kazuhide Ishikawa and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) chief representative Susumu Ito presented before incoming President Rodrigo Duterte and incoming Cabinet officials the “Davao City Infrastructure Development Plan and Capacity Building Project,” which the National Economic and Development and Authority (Neda) said aimed to institutionalize urban infrastructure planning in the city.

“The Japanese government’s timely offer of assistance will enable the Davao City government to respond to the challenges of urbanization resulting from increased economic activity in the city,” Neda Deputy Director-General Rolando G. Tungpalan said in a statement.

A project outline obtained by the Inquirer showed that the initiative would result into an urban infrastructure development plan alongside a corresponding investment program for Davao City.

Through the project, a plan to build more roads as well as improve transport systems, water supply, sewage, waste management and disaster prevention measures will be formulated targeting the years 2022 in the short-term and 2045 for the long-term, the document showed.

The project outline noted that “it is important to include in the development plan the improvement/enhancement of access of the local people and urban residents to basic infrastructure facilities and services, taking into consideration informal settlers (if any) or those living in danger zones and deprived settlements.”

Japan’s technical assistance, which will be implemented for 18 months, will “support the institutionalization of urban planning formulation and capacity development of technical personnel of the local government of Davao City, Neda and other relevant agencies.”

By the end of the project, the Davao City government and Neda should have been equipped to draw up urban infrastructure plans.

An urban infrastructure development plan for Davao City is seen to “ultimately improve the city’s competitiveness, security from disasters, and general urban condition.”

Under the technical assistance grant, the specific activities to be undertaken will be as follows: introduction of new urban infrastructure planning methodologies and best practices; development of technical know-how on the formulation of planning manuals, guidelines, training materials and tools; learning to input sector-specific development priorities and regional development needs to the urban infrastructure planning exercises; as well as development of trainers and local experts through the conduct of “training of trainers” sessions locally and in Japan.