Modern mass transport for Iloilo City

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

Mayor Jerry Treñas wants Iloilo City to have its own modern mass transport to ease traffic jams in the city, especially during rush hour.

“What we want to happen is for Iloilo to have an efficient and modern mass transport – whether it’s a bus or a tram, gusto ta na kay ga amat-amat na aton traffic,” he said in an interview on Friday.

According to the mayor, the mass transport is part of the big-ticket projects eyed by the city government under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

“Ang aton mass transport, ginpasulod, may ara na nag-signify daw Rapid Bus Transit,” the mayor added.

Last week, Treñas met PPP Center Deputy Executive Director Mia Sebastian and other officials of the PPP in his office to give updates on the PPP projects of the city for the markets, sanitary landfill and the city slaughterhouse.

“Ang sanitary landfill nga solid waste management program advance stage na, ang terms of reference napdala sa ila kag ginahulat na lang naton mafinalize ang mga programs amo man sa market and sa slaughterhouse,” he reported on Friday.

The city government has partnered with the PPP Center to roll out three big-ticket projects for the city.

Treñas said PPP projects will allow the city government to free a portion of the budget and in turn use it for other beneficial projects.

“We have already weighed up further milestones of the projects including its development, approval, procurement, and the awards,” he said.

Once formalized, the proposed mass transport will be the fourth PPP project of the city government.

“My dream of making this highly urbanized city has already started. All we have to do is to cooperate and work together as we accomplish our goals further. By doing this, we can assure our beloved Ilonggos that our projects will successfully level up Iloilo City,” he said.