MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) is pushing for the inclusion of IT infrastructure projects in the government’s stimulus package.

According to CICT chair Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III, IT infrastructure plays an important role in the development of the country.

So it is only fitting that such projects be included in the stimulus plan, he said.

“IT projects have immediate and long-term impact on the economy and on the country. The empowerment features of such projects will greatly benefit the country,” he said.

Apart from infrastructure projects, Roxas-Chua said there was also a need to invest in education on information technology.

“We’re hoping that there will be more investments in IT. We’re now conducting workshops to identify what projects we can propose for inclusion in the economic resiliency plan,” he revealed.

CICT recently held a “Government Stimulus Plan Workshop” with private sector groups Information Technology Association of the Philippines, Business Processing Association of the Philippines and the Computer Manufacturers, Distributors and Dealers Association of the Philippines.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in February ordered government agencies to fast-track the implementation of infrastructure projects under the P330-billion stimulus package, in a bid to pump-prime the economy.

A big portion of the P330-billion fund would be used to bankroll infrastructure projects in the first semester.

If IT infrastructure projects could not be included in the economic resiliency program, then the IT sector could ask for additional tax perks and other benefits, particularly for entities that would provide broadband services in the countryside, Roxas-Chua said.

“We’re proposing incentives for new broadband deployments in rural areas. This will help in the expansion of such services beyond the urban centers,” he had earlier said. “We’re trying to get tax breaks. We have proposed this to the [Board of Investments], and it’s still under review.”

He admitted that it would be “a challenge” to secure such incentives, particularly at this time when government expected revenues to go down.

“But we’ll still continue to push for it. We believe incentives to operators and [Internet service providers] are important to encourage them to invest,” he said.