The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has approved the P5.7-billion build-lease-transfer (BLT) modernization project for the Philippine Postal Corp. (Philpost).
When modernized as proposed, Philpost revenue is expected to increase the revenue of the postal agency from the present level of P3 billion to a high of P13 billion over a five to seven-year period.
The postal modernization project was proposed to Philpost as early as 2002 by the Japanese software developer Renaissance of Age (ROA) in order to improve the services of Philpost and increase its revenues which had been on the downtrend for years.
The ROA proposal improved as it underwent evaluation and graduated from an unsolicited Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) proposal when it was presented to the NEDA Investment Coordinating Committee Technical Board (ICC-TB) in June 2005 to a BLT project in November 2005.
Under the proposal, ROA will computerize the Philippine postal system by providing computers and other equipment as the nucleus of its modernization.
ROA will then build and maintain modern postal applications and business systems worth P3.4 billion for more than 2,000 post offices throughout the country in seven years at no cost to Philpost. Training and maintenance worth P2.3 billion will also be shouldered by ROA during the lifetime of the project.
Philpost officials and employees hailed the project proposal, stressing that the modern equipment and systems to be put up by the Japanese firm are expected to remarkably make Philpost operations more efficient while increasing its revenues and improving the overall image of the government firm.
Under the ROA proposal, post offices in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will be computerized, improved and connected with one another through the Internet and the Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) which shall be introduced as new revenue-generating services of Philpost.
With the computerization and the Internet, Philpost can finally set up and operationally a track and trace system for all mails and packages it will receive and dispatch, sorting will be computerized and the Philpost accounting system will be online, nationwide and alive, thereby discouraging and reducing fraud.
The Japanese firm will also install public calling stations (PCS) in post offices nationwide using the VOIP. Through the VOIP, Filipinos can call anywhere in the Philippines and abroad at cheaper costs.
By way of generating additional revenues for Philpost, ROA will also develop a hybrid mail system which would allow Philpost to receive, print and send billing statements, brochures, fliers, newsletters and similar publications from credit card firms, marketing companies and utilities more efficiently.
ROA will also install a digital identification card making system designed to modernize the postal ID, one of the accepted IDs in the country, from a paperbased card to a PVC card with color and added features. The modern digital postal ID will be introduced as part of a national and unified ID system of the government.
The Japanese firm will also convert many outdated post offices into modern e-post shops with an environment similar to a business center or Internet cafe Aside from the traditional postal services, the e-post shops would provide services such as Internet, desktop publishing, printing, scanning, telephone, VOIP, fax and other services.(with PNA report)
Manila Bulletin
April 19, 2006
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