PASSING the National Land Use Act (Nalua) would allow the country to make headway in Right of Way issues that need to be resolved to undertake infrastructure projects, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
On Monday, Neda Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan told reporters on the sidelines of the formal launch of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP), that the Executive branch is working with Congress to craft and finally pass the Nalua.
Balisacan said this will allow the current administration to speed up right of way acquisition (Rowa), which is often the cause of delay in undertaking many infrastructure projects.
“The absence of a national land use is contributing to that difficulty of building infrastructure. Since we do not have that land use, you get into crazy situations where supposedly a highway that goes straight is moving (in another direction),” Balisacan said.
Balisacan said having a national land use law would guide the better planning of infrastructure projects and where they can best be located. He said the Nalua would be able to identify which lands are commercial and which are agricultural.
The Nalua, Balisacan added, could also identify areas that cannot be built on or those that are protected by environmental laws.
He believed that even if the Nalua has been in the pipeline for the past 50 years, there is a chance that the law could be passed under this administration. Both houses of Congress, he said, have agreed to prioritize the crafting of the law.
“The leadership of both Congress have indicated to us when we met during the first Ledac (Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council) and it is included in the list of priority legislation of the executive,” Balisacan said.
The Nalua has been identified as the priority legislation of administrations for decades. However, the bill has yet to be passed.
Last year, former Neda Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said if the next administration wants to finally pass the Nalua, the government must adopt a “door-to-door approach” used by the Duterte administration in passing the tax reform program.
Chua and the architect of the country’s tax reform program said this approach would ensure that lawmakers are able to understand the impact of passing such a law.
He said the Neda staff could carry on this mandate by explaining to each legislator and making as many presentations as possible.
Chua said there are currently many misunderstood portions of the proposed Nalua. He said some quarters are saying that land use will be the responsibility of one centralized agency in government.
He said this was not true and that local government units (LGUs) still had jurisdiction over land use. However, land conversion of land from agriculture to other use has to be decided by a more centralized agency.