• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Bacolod will pay P125 million this year to Manila-based Highdata Infra Corp. (HIC) as the contract for the P2.1 billion super-city project was signed March 3 at the Government Center lobby.
Mayor Alfredo Benitez, who signed the 10-year contract under a build-transfer-maintain (BTM) scheme, said the funding will come from the city’s internally generated funds.
He stressed that the city’s internal funds are more than sufficient to pay for this project, with the LGU payment schedule spread within 10 years.
“But this project is not all expenditures, there’s also revenue generation because our efficiency in collection will be greatly improved,” Benitez stressed and noted that one component of the project is the introduction of egovernance platforms, like the geographical information system (GIS), and the property and tax assessment system (PTAS).
The PTAS will be designed for efficient transaction processing, property valuation maintenance, and archiving of real property tax records for the purpose of improving the LGU’s tax collection functions, the HIC said in a presentation.
Reports generated by PTAS will enable the LGU to obtain a clearer picture of its tax base, allowing the city to formulate strategies for streamlining and increasing the efficiency of its tax programs and collection.
Danny Fernandez of HIC, who signed the contract on behalf of company president Anthony Christian Angeles, said the egov component of the project will be the first to be put in place, starting this year.
Benitez said that with the PTAS and GIS, improvement in tax collection could easily generate a 40 percent increase, as what they’d learned during their visits to other LGUs with similar system of transaction or arrangement.
“This increase could translate to P450 million a year. And if we are to follow a similar path as that of other LGUs, we would have generated around P5 billion on the 10th year of the project” as against the P2.1 billion project cost, the mayor explained.
Aside from the PTAS and GIS, the project also involves the establishment of a centralized command center (C3) in Barangay Taculing, and intelligent street lamp poles with video surveillance analytics (VSA) in around 150 locations all over Bacolod.
The C3 is mainly for public safety, emergency response, disaster management, traffic management and monitoring, public announcement, and visual information campaign.
The intelligent street lamp poles with VAS, to be strategically placed in key city locations, would ensure extensive and 24/7 visual coverage, and would be integrated into the C3 for video surveillance and data analytics management, said the HIC, which has been operating since 1995 and has extensive experience in systems integration, technology management, and provision of telecommunications support systems and solutions.
“A city without security and proper peace and order is no city at all,” Benitez said, adding that the signing of the contract “ushers Bacolod into a new era” and is the start of the realization of his administration’s commitment to make it as a super city. | CGC
