THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is currently reviewing its processes and has already designated its Regional Development Offices (RDOs) and Neda Regional Offices (NROs) to become the lead evaluator for region-based proposals.

As lead evaluator for the projects, the RDOs and NROs will prepare the project evaluation report (PER) for presentation to the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) Technical Board (TB).

From the ICC-TB, the proposal will be recommended to the ICC Cabinet Committee (CC) and then elevated to the Neda Board for final approval.

Neda Deputy Director General Rolando Tungpalan said this new development was recently imposed by Neda Acting Director General Augusto Santos, who is keen on improving the processes, particularly the evaluation process of the ICC.

“As decided by Acting Director General Santos, region-based proposals that will go through ICC will first be evaluated by RDOs and NROs. They will prepare the PER and will be the lead evaluating staff. Of course, the ICC Secretariat will still include its inputs, but the primary agencies that will evaluate the proposal will be the RDOs and NROs,” Tungpalan explained in an interview.

This process, Tungpalan said, has already been tested on the evaluation of the Panglao Airport, which has already been approved by the Neda Board, and the proposed unsolicited build-rehabilitate proposal for the Caticlan airport.

Tungpalan said the Caticlan airport project is still undergoing evaluation and the ICC-TB could not yet include it among its recommendations pending additional data.

Meanwhile, the Neda has also sought assistance from the Philippines-Australia Partnership for Economic Governance Reforms to further improve its processes, particularly in the ICC.

“The evaluation seeks to complete the improvement of the business processes of the ICC to ensure higher levels of quality and integrity, particularly in project evaluation,” Tungpalan said.

After the evaluation process, which is still in its inception phase, the Neda hopes to put in place a relevant review process that is thorough but at the same time does not hamper the flow of the work of the ICC.

AUSTRALIAN-based Nido Petroleum Corp. is looking forward to the start of production of the wells in an oil field in offshore Palawan following the completion of the drilling phase of the Galoc development.  

THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is currently reviewing its processes and has already designated its Regional Development Offices (RDOs) and Neda Regional Offices (NROs) to become the lead evaluator for region-based proposals.

FOREIGN direct investments (FDIs) in the country increased by 8.1 percent in the third quarter of 2007, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), with approvals reaching P34.9 billion from P32.3 billion in the same quarter a year ago.

CEBU CITY—Officials from the Cebu City and Cebu provincial governments said Wednesday the stalled land-swap deal, which could affect 5,000 urban- poor families and some 50 hectares of prime commercial properties, could still push through if only Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia start talking again.

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is opening up new business-name registration centers in Metro Manila to accommodate the expected flood of applications for the first quarter of the year, which is the traditional peak season.

CLARK FREEPORT—The passenger volume at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here increased by 9.18 percent or by nearly 45,000 in 2007  over the 2006 figures, a development that further brightens the prospects of the Clark airport eventually becoming the country’s premier international gateway.

MUNTINLUPA City deleted from the process those agencies that merely note down business’ basic data, thus reducing its 14-step business permit renewal process to just six steps.