State-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) announced it will finance the purchase of modern jeepney units set to benefit 500 drivers in Novaliches, Quezon City.
LandBank said in a statement it released last Thursday it has approved a P68-million loan to the Novaliches Development Co-operative (Novadeci) for the procurement of 32 modern jeepney units.
The project will be financed under the bank’s “Special Package for Environment-Friendly and Efficiently-Driven Public Utility Vehicles” program. The brand-new, modern public utility jeepneys (PUJs) will ply the routes of Novaliches in Quezon City to Malinta in Valenzuela City and vice versa. “LandBank stands ready in helping transport cooperatives nationwide to make the shift to safer and more efficient vehicles,” Landbank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo was quoted in a statement as saying. “Together with the DOTr [Department of Transportation] and the LTFRB [Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board], we will continuously support efforts to modernize the country’s transport system for the benefit of transport players and the riding public.”
As of end-July this year, the bank has provided financial support amounting to P1.95 billion to 45 public transport cooperatives and corporations for the purchase of 922 modern PUJs, covering a total of 53 routes. Another 45 loan applications are currently being processed amounting to P4.23 billion to procure 1,823 units of modern jeepneys.
Under the LandBank’s lending program, loans are released to borrowers 45 days upon submission of all necessary requirements.
Novadeci Chairman Leonisa A. Fausto welcomed the financing and thanked the bank. Fausto added the support would go a long way as they apply government’s transport modernization program. Through LandBank’s lending program, eligible borrowers may loan up to 95 percent of the PUJ’s total cost at an interest rate of 6 percent per annum, payable based on cash flow but not to exceed a maximum of seven years.