Iloilo City—The government of the Netherlands will bring in planners and consultants to help this city’s local government to strengthen its infrastructure for cycling.
The plan is brought about by the foreign country’s confidence in the potential of this highly urbanized city in terms of sustainable urban planning, said Kevin C.D.G. Punzalan, senior policy officer at the Economic and Public Affairs of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Philippines, in his recent visit.
“We will bring here the Dutch Cycling Embassy, a public-private partnership composed of the government of the Netherlands and private consultants when it comes to urban planning and cycling,” Punzalan said in an interview.
He said that the Netherlands is one of the countries interested in sustainable cities and urban planning, and they saw Iloilo as of the best models in the Philippines.
Likewise, the embassy saw that the local government is one of the progressive cities in terms of infrastructure for cycling.
“This is significant, because the Dutch Cycling Embassy operated before in Asia only in Japan. The Philippines will be the first Southeast Asian country to be the location of the bike workshop, and we are very proud to bring them here,” he added.
The Dutch Embassy will be organizing a workshop on October 7 and 8, dubbed “Think Bike Workshop” that will be participated in by about 25 participants in the tourism and planning offices of the local government and the transport sector.
City Tourism Officer Junel Ann Divinagracia revealed that the proposed workshop seeks to promote a cycling culture, reduce traffic jams and fight climate change.
“As the Dutch Embassy visits, Iloilo City—the country’s rising biking capital and most bike-friendly community—welcomes this tourism plan to conduct a cycling workshop to review and discuss the different cases and situations within cycling societies,” she said.
She added that the activity would be a public-private partnership of different organizations and companies, as it will enable Iloilo to be an urban cycling community.
During the two-day engagement, participants will have a bike tour to showcase the best practices of Iloilo City and identify elements that are needed to be done or for improvement.
Their outputs will be presented to Mayor Jerry P. Treñas, together with Dutch envoy Saskia de Lang on October 9.
“We hope that the province and city of Iloilo will take up the plan and begin to implement it. The Netherlands will be happy to support [its] implementation,” Punzalan added.
“As the city grows and becomes sustainable, more Dutch businesses would like to see Iloilo as the location of their operations, or a place where they can visit. So the more we highlight Iloilo as a whole, the more the Netherlands and the Dutch people will be aware of it,” he said.
Perla Lena/PNA
Image credits: Randy Javier Fadrigo/PNA