The City Government on Monday initiated a public-private dialogue that served as a venue for discussion and sharing on traffic, seaport, electricity, internet connectivity and investment concerns in Zamboanga.

Dubbed as Community Engagement: A Public-Private Dialogue, the day-long event held at a hotel in Tetuan, was based on the Local Government Code or RA 7160 and was participated by almost 80 representatives from the business and informal sectors.  

Distinguished guests invited to present and answer questions during the dialogue were: Engr. Liberto Dela Rosa, Port Manager of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA); Director Maria Teresa M. Camba of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT); Assistant City Administrator Cesar Raz and Ferdinand Rodriguez, Public Information Officer of the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (ZAMCELCO).

During the dialogue, participants were divided into 4 groups representing their sectors – traffic, seaport, electricity and internet connectivity and presented 2 pitches- first was the business model they created to provide solution to the current concern of their group and second was on the implementation of their business model through Public Private Partnership.

The seaport group won the First Best Business Pitch Award as they proposed to come up with an application that can be downloaded to know the current status of services at the seaport. The app can provide information on the arrival of ships, accommodate bookings and payments for passengers and similar services the public need to know. They suggested for this to be updated every five (5) years.

The seaport group was composed of representatives from the Zamboanga Economic Zone and Freeport Authority, Budgetwise Supermarket, City Mall, Southway, KCC Mall de Zamboanga, and LM Metro Hotel. The event, organized by the Investment Promotion Services Division under the Office of the City Mayor, ended on high note as the community was engaged in thinking of possible solutions to current issues and their implementation. (Sheila Covarrubias)