ILOILO CITY — Mayor Jerry P. Treñas wants to set up a mass transport system in Iloilo City and is looking for a private investor that will partner with the local government.
“What we want to happen is for Iloilo to have an efficient and modern mass transport, whether it’s a bus or a tram, we are very open with it because of the worsening traffic,” he said in an interview.
“My dream of making this a highly-urbanized city has already started… our projects will successfully level up Iloilo City,” he said.
The mass transport system is among the big-ticket projects listed by the city government for consideration under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme, with assistance from the PPP Center.
“We included it as one of our PPP projects and one (company) has signified its intent (for a) bus rapid transit system,” the mayor said.
Mr. Treñas said PPP Center Deputy Executive Director Mia G. Sebastian led a group of officials in a visit to the city last week to give updates on three other PPP projects — public markets, a sanitary landfill, and a slaughterhouse — that are being worked on by the national agency.
“Our sanitary landfill, particularly the solid waste management program, is already at the advanced stage and the terms of reference have been forwarded to the interested parties. We are just waiting for the programs to be finalized, same with the markets and the slaughterhouse,” he said.
“We have (defined) further milestones of the projects, including its development, approval, procurement, and the awards,” he added.
Mr. Treñas said the city government is pursuing projects under the PPP arrangement in order to preserve funds for other programs.
Iloilo City is the regional center of Western Visayas. — Emme Rose S. Santiagudo
