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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

   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.

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