CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — The New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City will soon find another location in a P50-billion facility to rise in Laur, Nueva Ecija.
Central Luzon’s Regional Development Council (RDC) has passed a resolution supporting the move of the NBP to a 500-hectare government property in Laur, a move acknowledged here by Justice Sec. Leila de Lima.
“The proposed P50-billion facility shall be the biggest public-private partnership project of DOJ and a first of its kind in the country. It shall be a big help in addressing congestion at the current NBP site in Muntinlupa City,” De Lima said during a recent meeting of the RDC at the office of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) here.
De Lima thanked the RDC for passing the resolution. The RDC, headed by Bulacan Gov. Willie Sy-Alvarado, said the new prison project “will be undertaken under a build- transfer-maintain scheme with the winning bidder turning it over to the Bureau of Corrections after the three year construction period but shall continue its maintenance duties of the facility for 20 years.”
De Lima assured the Central Luzon governors present during the meeting that the proposed prison in Laur would have adequate security features to separate so-called “high-risk” prisoners from other inmates.
Also present during the meeting were governors Aurelio Umali of Nueva Ecija, Lilia Pineda of Pampanga, and Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. of Zambales. “It will also have distinct and adequate space for women prisoners,” she added.
“We will start the bidding process within the year. We are holding an investor’s conference so that we can present the project design,” De Lima bared. RDC is the highest policy-making body in Central Luzon and serves as the counterpart of the National Economic and Development Authority Board at the subnational level.
It is the primary institution that coordinates and sets the direction of all economic and social development efforts in the region and serves as a forum where local efforts can be related and integrated with national development activities.
Council members include all governors, city mayors, municipal mayors of capital towns, presidents of municipal mayors’ league, regional directors of national government agencies and representatives from the private sector.
