Background
The Legazpi-Iriga-Naga-Daet Growth Corridor (LINDGC) Project is the
central strategy for the acceleration of growth through
agro-industrialization of the Bicol region. Its development
has been pursued by the regional and local leadership in the last few
years under the slogan “Best Investment Corridor of
Luzon” (BICOL). Actions to move the project forward
included the creation of a Project Board under the Regional Development
Council (RDC, 1995), the forging of a Memorandum of Agreement among the
key participating LGUs of the LINDGC, the conduct of an inter-sectoral
and inter-LGU Visioning and Project Identification Workshop (1996) and
sourcing of financial assistance from the Coordinating Council of the
Philippine Assistance Program (CCPAP) for the preparation of the LINDGC
Master Plan (1997). Master Plan preparation was contracted to
the Orient Integrated Development Consultants, Inc. (OIDCI) in
September 1997 and the study team started work in October.
The Draft Final Master Plan was completed and submitted for review by
the constituted regional Technical Working Group (TWG) on 21 April 1998.
The LINDGC area covers 22 municipal units traversed by the Daang
Maharlika from Daet, Camarines Norte at the northend and Legazpi City
at the southend. They include the cities of one (1) city and
six (6) municipalities of Albay, two (2) cities and 11 municipalities
of Camarines Sur and two municipalities of Camarines Norte.
The combined area of these cities and municipalities is 304,040
hectares and its population in 1995 totaled 1,379,502, giving a
population density of around 4.5 persons per hectare.
Objectives
of the Master Plan Study
-
To
formulate an integrated
development master plan which will be a blueprint for the development
of the LINDGC; the same to be developed within the context of
provincial and regional development plans and national directions.
-
To
provide opportunities to transfer
assessment and planning technologies to the regional counterpart teams
through: a) hands-on participation of these teams in the
consultant’s master planning activities; and b)
topic-specific technical workshops and training courses.
After the
extensive and consensus building workshops conducted prior to the
formulation of the Draft Master Plan, it became apparent that the main
purposes of the LINDGC Master Plan are:
-
to
establish the planning policies
for the area which will define the future planning strategy for
development, including land use and physical interventions;
-
to
provide a framework to guide infrastructure development in the area;
-
to
relate national and regional
developments and policies to the LINDGC and formulate in the process
the guidelines to achieve the objectives of the Master Plan; and
-
define
the parameters for the preparation of the more detailed Area Action
Plans.
Planning Organization and Strategies
(See Planning Structure and Gantt Chart)
The
participatory process used in the preparation of the LINDGC Master Plan
involved the following strategies:
