MANILA, Philippines — The Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) is providing technical assistance to the government’s Tri-City Ferry System Project aimed at decongesting the traffic flow in the northern part of the country.
CDIA, a multi-donor trust fund managed by the Asian Development Bank, recently inked a technical assistance agreement (TAA) with the city governments of Alaminos and Dagupan in Pangasinan, San Fernando in La Union, and the Public-Private Partnership Center.
Also included are the Poro Point Management Corp. and the National Economic and Development Authority-Regional Office in Ilocos.
The TAA is for the project preparation study for the Tri-City Ferry System.
Under the TAA, the CDIA will provide funding for the procurement of consultants for the project which will be undertaken through the PPP scheme.
The consultant will prepare the PPS, which includes among others the feasibility study, PPP contract, and bid documents.
CDIA is one of the long-time institutional partners of the PPP Center in providing support to various cities and boosting local PPPs in the country.
The ferry system aims to connect the regional, provincial and city hubs, especially the government and commercial hubs within the three cities, with minimal stops to limit the overall transit time between main embarking and alighting piers.
This would allow traffic decongestion and also boost the tourism potential of the loop and the whole region and in turn, rejuvenate coastal communities and help environmental and urban renewal.
Meanwhile, the private partner for the project will finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the ferry terminals and floating piers.
It is also in charge of the provision of ferry services to traverse major demand centers, including maintenance of the vessels and existing rules and regulations on sea navigation.