The Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to establish a Right-of-Way (ROW) Office to streamline land acquisition and accelerate infrastructure projects.
The proposal, presented by the PSAC Infrastructure Sector during a March 20 meeting, aims to address delays caused by lengthy legal disputes and bureaucratic inefficiencies in acquiring land for government projects.
“The ROW Office, certainly I think that we have to do it,” Marcos said, according to a statement released by the Presidential Communications Office.
“We have to do something as this is something that always comes up and the main reason why we are always delayed and we have added cost,” the president said.
The proposed office would work with government agencies to resolve conflicts in ROW execution and assign lawyers to priority sectors, including transportation, energy, telecommunications and water.
Marcos called for a review of a pending Right-of-Way bill in the Senate, suggesting funding requirements be included in the legislation.