WHEREAS, Proclamation No. 65 dated 2 October 1992 adopted the National Physical Framework Plan providing policy and program direction for land using activities, environmental management, settlements pattern and the development of other physical resources in the country, to ensure focused national development efforts as well as promote sustainable development;

WHEREAS, the above physical framework, to be responsive to the national development thrusts, requires, among others, a cohesive blueprint for infrastructure development which should include an integrated plan on transport facilities of various modalities in the country which shall serve as the National Strategic Infrastructure Transport Plan;

WHEREAS, there is a need to integrate existing and proposed transport and transport-related projects in the present Transport Plan of the country, towards evolving the National Strategic Infrastructure Transport Plan with the end-in-view of enhancing the project ™s complementation and thereby, ensure their consistency with the national development thrusts;

WHEREAS, the updating of the National Physical Framework Plan and its components is lodged with the National Land Use Committee pursuant to Letter of Instruction No. 1350 dated 2 August 1983;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIDEL V. RAMOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby issue the following order:

Section 1. Formulation of the National Strategic Infrastructure Plan. The National Land Use Committee, through its appropriate Technical Committee, is hereby tasked to formulate the National Strategic Infrastructure Transport Plan herein after referred to as the Infrastructure Plan, which shall integrate all existing and proposed transport and transport-related projects in the country towards enhancing their complementation and thereby, ensure their consistency with the national development thrusts.

Section 2. Terms of Reference. To attain the above objectives, the Infrastructure Plan shall include the following:

a. Computerized database of all major infrastructure projects which shall include existing and proposed infrastructure projects covering all modalities, such as highways, railroads, seaports and airports; and

b. Computer-based topographic maps of national and interregional transportation infrastructure projects in the country, including the guidelines and standards on the preparations of said maps and their accompanying texts;

Section 3. Activities. In line with the formulation of the Infrastructure Plan, the National Land Use Committee shall undertake the following activities:

a. Review the draft of the above Plan and the preliminary maps thereto towards identifying and resolving possible geographic areas of conflict vis- -vis the requirements of protection and production land uses and settlements development;

b. Cause the updating of existing topographic maps of the transport and transport-related infrastructure projects, in close coordination with concerned government agencies and local government units;

c. Cause the wide dissemination of the above Plan, in particular making the updated maps available to the public at nominal cost; and

d. Undertake and/or cause the undertaking of other activities it may deem necessary to further enhance the Physical Framework Plan, including the submission of recommendations on the possible incorporation of other infrastructure projects in the succeeding mapping activities of the Committee (e.g., communication infrastructure, energy projects, public buildings, etc.).

Section 4. Timetable. To allow the Infrastructure Plan ™s integration in the updating of the National Physical Framework Plan, the Plan shall be completed and submitted to the President for approval not later than 31 December 1997. Thereafter, it shall serve as the strategic infrastructure plan for the transport sector of the country.

Section 5. Technical Support. The National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), the Departments of Transportation and Communications, and of Public Works and Highways shall provide technical support to the Committee in carrying out the above activities. The Committee may call upon any government agency or instrumentality to ensure the effective and efficient implementation of the provisions of this Order.

Section 6. Funding. Aside from its own-generated resources, the Committee is hereby authorized to source Ten Million Pesos (P10,000,000) from the 1997 OP-DBM Reserve Fund to defray the cost of the above activities, including its publication subject to the applicable accounting and auditing rules and regulations.

Section 7. Effectivity. This Order shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 21st day of August, in the Year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety Seven.

(Sgd.) FIDEL V. RAMOS
President of the Philippines

By the President:
(Sgd.) RUBEN D. TORRES
Executive Secretary