Tugade said the infrastructure masterplan for Mindanao includes the expansion and modernization of various airports, seaports and maritime facilities

Hundreds of Davao-based businessmen met with key officials of the Duterte administration in a public forum and came away with the conclusion that for the Philippines to sustain economic growth, a Mindanao development project must form part of the grand plan.

This surfaced at an economic forum hosted by BDO Unibank in which Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said Mindanao has the economic resources to help sustainable growth happen not just on the island but across the Philippines as well.

Citing a World Bank study, he said efforts to further grow the economy will be futile unless Mindanao is developed alongside the other regions. And progress, according to him, cannot be achieved without first and foremost — infrastructure.

“Every nation, every country, every region that has experienced growth and development is always predicated on the kinds of plans it has on infrastructure. And therefore, we say, unequivocally, you want development, let’s have infrastructure. And therefore, we say, you want development in infrastructure, you do it also with Mindanao,” he said during his keynote speech.

Under the Duterte administration’s ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program, the transportation secretary said the infrastructure masterplan for Mindanao includes the expansion and modernization of various airports, seaports and maritime facilities, the development of the Mindanao Railway System and the modernization of the region’s public transportation system which will pilot test in Davao. All these form part of the P7-trillion budget the government has allocated for infrastructure spending until 2022.

For instance, he said, airports in Cotabato, Dipolog, Ozamis and Pagadian are under way to be night-rated, which means people and cargo can travel to and from these locations even during the night. Tugade cited another welcome development is the ground-breaking of the Bukidnon airport, which may happen by the end of the year and the near completion of the Cagayan de Oro Port new passenger terminal, which will be the country’s biggest with a capacity of 3,000 passengers.

Efforts to further grow the economy will be futile unless Mindanao is developed alongside the other regions.

These infrastructure projects were welcomed by the invited panelists, namely, Edgar Saavedra, chairman of the Megawide Construction Corp., Vince Perez, founder and CEO of Alter Energy Partners, Ed Francisco, president of BDO Capital and Investment Corp., the investment banking arm of BDO Unibank and Tomas Lorenzo, president and CEO of Torre Lorenzo Development Corp.