UK to grant Cebu P200M
Cebu City is among the 19 cities in the world – and one of two in the Philippines – expected to receive a P200-million grant from the United Kingdom government to help alleviate poverty among residents.
City administrator Nigel Paul Villarete said the fund will not be used to build tangible assets like roads and other infrastructures. Instead, it will be used for “soft” purposes such as planning, policy formulation, and investment preparation for feasibility studies and design meant to address the problem of poverty in the city.
“We are very fortunate and thankful that Cebu City and the New Clark City (in Pampanga) have been considered as two of the 19 cities all over the world qualified to receive the assistance. The fund is big. We are expecting for Cebu City at least P100 million and it may even go up to P200 million, depending on our implementation,” Villarete told The FREEMAN.
The other recipient cities are located in nine other countries, including Turkey, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand.
The grants will come from UK's Prosperity Fund, which was created in 2015 as part of the Global Future Cities Programme that aims to address development challenges arising from increasing rapid urbanization, climate change and urban inequality, factors that can lower longterm growth prospects of cities.
Villarete said the United Nations' Habitat collaborated with the UK government earlier this year on the strategic development phase of the Global Future Cities Prosperity Fund Programme.
The program also seeks to support sustainable development, avoiding urban sprawl and informal settlements while achieving inclusive prosperity and alleviating high levels of urban poverty.
Villarete said it will also bode well with efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) as it identifies three pillars that will address key barriers to prosperity: urban planning, transportation, and resilience.
“A lot of things because we will have a policy direction, we will have workable plans that are consistent with ‘Cebu City Plus 10.' All activities will now be structured and that will comply with SDGs,” said Villarete.
“Cebu City Plus 10” is a development agenda that details the future of the city in the next 10 years.
Last August, Cebu City held a “Planning Charrettes,” which is akin to stakeholders' consultative meetings on what aspects of the three barriers will be availed of by the city government.
Villarete and Francisco Fernandez, the city's executive assistant, attended the meetings and dialogues in London where they exchanged notes and best practices with other cities.
“We want to go into the other sectoral plans, comprehensive sectoral plans for implementation like our transport plans. We want to have a complete plan for the phase two, three and four of the Bus Rapid Transit,” Villarete said.
Villarete also said the grantors of the assistance are still collating all the proposals of 19 cities, adding that the threeyear programme will be implemented next year. Cebu City expects to have already received the grant by that time.