Iloilo City has been chosen as the pilot site by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to work on policies and programs for low carbon urban transport system to make it more environment-friendly.
“Iloilo City’s biggest contributor to air pollution is our emission from public transportation. Since the city’s direction under Mayor Jerry P. Treñas is to be a smart city, then we will craft policies and programs for our public utility vehicles, public utility jeepneys and tricycles geared towards lowering of emission,” said Jeck Conlu, head of the Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO).
PSTMO sits as vice-chair of the technical working group (TWG) that will craft the policy with technical assistance from the UNDP for a year.
Conlu said that UNDP has recognized that the city is gearing towards a smart environment-friendly city and they have already seen its interventions, particularly its modernization program or the Local Public Transportation Route Plan (LPTRP).
The LPTRP is not only about modernization but also aims to make the transport sector environment-friendly by promoting the use of engines not lower than Euro 4 with low carbon emissions, he said.
Eventually, the traditional jeepneys will also be replaced by modernized jeepneys while the city is also gearing towards the adoption of e-bicycles instead of tricycles.
Currently, around 2,100 traditional jeepneys and over 1,000 tricycles are plying the city streets while 1,767 modernized jeepneys have franchises to operate.
“If we can lower our emission, Iloilo City will be one of the least polluted cities in the country,” Conlu said.
He said that they are now on data gathering that will serve as the basis for the crafting of the direction for the transport system.
Once completed, the document will be sent to the Sangguniang Panlungsod for approval and implementation.Perla Lena/PNA
