ILOILO CITY: The Iloilo city government will construct 1,260 housing units on a 2.2-hectare government-owned lot at Uswag Residential Complex in Barangay San Isidro, Jaro district intended for informal settler families (ISF).
To pave the way for the construction, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas, officials of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), and Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) on Tuesday signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the housing project.
There will be 14 seven-story buildings equivalent to 1,260 units at 90 units per building to be constructed, complete with power and water lines, DHSUD-Western Visayas officer in charge (OIC) Regional Director Eva Maria P. Marfil said in an interview.
“We will supervise the program and then the city government is the main proponent. Our first project is at the city government-owned land,” she said.
According to Marfil the total project cost is still being finalized as officials still have to meet.
Treñas, in a separate interview, said once the MOA is confirmed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod on March 1, the city government will wait for unsolicited proposals from interested contractors.
“We will follow the PPP (public-private partnership) Ordinance of the City,” the mayor said, adding start of construction is targeted this year and to be completed in two years.
The project is for families residing in danger zones, those located along the Jaro and Batiano rivers, and for victims of the Jan. 28 fire incidents in Barangays West Habog-Habog and San Juan in Molo district.
A previous interview with an Iloilo City Urban Poor Affairs official showed the city has around 12,300 ISFs as of September 2022 projected to balloon to 15,000 in 2028 taking into account the 4 percent increase per year.
DHSUD Undersecretary Roland Samuel T. Young, in another interview, said those availing of the projects have to be members of Pag-IBIG to obtain loans to pay for their unit.
He added that if they are non-members, Pag-IBIG has a program where they can get a membership after paying the upfront fee.
Treñas, during the program, said the city government is serious about the project as it intends to build 15,000 units in the next 10 years to provide decent housing to informal settlers.
“The city government is borrowing another PHP200 million from DBP (Development Bank of the Philippines) because we are purchasing another 13 hectares which we are ready to partner with you. We hope that by the end of 10 years, we will be able together with you to have built a total of 15,000 housing units for the informal settlers in Iloilo City,” the mayor told the DHSUD official.
“We want to fast-track everything. That is why we are always here on the ground. We’ve been visiting Iloilo a lot and other areas also,” Young added.
DHSUD and the city government already broke ground for the implementation of DHSUD’s "Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino: Zero ISF Program for 2028" back in September 2022.
Source: Philippines News Agency
