Carlo S Lorenciana (The Freeman)
CEBU, Philippines – The 2017-2022 Central Visayas Regional Development Plan (RDP), a blueprint for the region’s development direction in the next six years, is now being finalized.
The Regional Development Council had conducted a special meeting last Tuesday.
National Economic and Development Authority Regional Head Efren Carreon, also vice chair of RDC-7, said the meeting’s major focus was the adoption of the 2017-2022 RDP.
“We are finalizing it already,” he told The FREEMAN.
The RDC had conducted consultations on the new RDP.
Based on the initial targets set under the 2017-2022 RDP, the Central Visayas economy is projected to grow 6.4-6.9 percent this year and 6.9-7.4 percent by 2018.
By the year 2022 when President Duterte’s term ends, the CV economy is seen to expand by between 8.3 percent and 8.8 percent.
The Philippine Statistics Authority is set to report the region’s 2016 gross regional domestic product (GRDP) data in May, which will be done earlier compared before when PSA released GRDP data in middle of the year.
RDPs are considered accompanying documents of the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 as they provide the spatial dimension to the national plan by identifying the regions’ contributions to the country’s high, sustained and broad-based growth.
RDPs provide the framework for local development.
Region 7’s RDP spells out the priority strategic interventions that would have to be undertaken by the government, private sector and civil society in order to achieve the medium-term goals of the region.
It also contains the development targets which the Central Visayas region hopes to realize by 2022.