Japan loan to hasten solution of traffic woes

The Duterte administration’s efforts to end Metro Manila’s monstrous traffic problem received a huge boost after Japan approved a $2.4-billion (P112.8-billion) loan to fund the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 7 project that will connect Manila to Bulacan and decongest the capital.  

Coupled with the expected congressional approval of President Duterte’s request for special powers, the new development is expected to hasten the solution of the gridlock in the metropolis and other urban centers.

Japan said it was providing the funds for the 38-kilometer elevated commuter line that would not only connect Manila to Bulacan and decongest the metropolis, but also help spur economic activity.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board has already approved the project; a consortium led by San Miguel Corp. (SMC) won in the auction for the contract.

The consortium is borrowing from Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) for the funding of the project that broke ground last Feb. 18. It isexpected to be completed in 2019.

“This is one of the biggest projects Japan has ever embarked upon using the yen loan,” said Masato Ohtaka, deputy press secretary for Japan’s foreign ministry. “Railways are one of our fortes…. We sympathize with the Filipinos that this is a project that needs to be done very, very quickly.”

Ohtaka said Japan was also open to building a railway in Mindanao, a project that Mr. Duterte had previously said China offered to finance, but has been stalled as a result of the current territorial conflict with China.

The railway was among the topics that visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida discussed with Mr. Duterte last Thursday in Davao City.

A Jica study showed that traffic problems cost the Philippines an estimated $64 million a day in 2015.

At present, commuters have to endure a dilapidated mass-transit system, with long lines and overcrowding common in trains that sometimes stop between stations or even overshoot their tracks.

Mr. Duterte earlier declined invitations for engagements in Manila, saying he wanted to avoid worsening the congestion. It was his way of stressing the urgent need to solve the vehicular traffic crisis in the capital city.

The Japanese loan will be provided to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and will be payable over 40 years; Ohtaka did not give a timeline for the project.

Japan is also donating coast guard vessels and leasing aircraft to boost the Philippines’s weak military and maritime capabilities.

Senators said Mr. Duterte would likely be granted emergency powers, although Sen. Grace Poe, chairman of the chamber’s public services committee, said legislators would review and closely monitor its implementation.

Poe said a proactive oversight committee would be established under the measure being deliberated upon to solve the country’s transportation woes.

The oversight panel, which will be composed of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, is one of the safeguards being considered in the implementation of the President’s extraordinary powers, which will be limited to two to three years.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade told senators during Wednesday’s Senate hearing that there is urgency in dealing with traffic nightmare and other transportation problems, but vowed the President’s extra powers would not be abused.

Poe said government transactions to be undertaken during the effectivity of the emergency powers must be transparent and compliant with the Freedom of Information Act.

“This is non-negotiable,” she said.

Also, she said, conditions of transactions, such as ensuring the track record of the supplier, enough capitalization of suppliers and no conflict of interest would be among the details that senators want to see in the final form of the emergency measure, Poe said.

“I would like to see this administration succeed, but I am not going to relent on my role of making sure that they actually do things according to the processes that are laid out by the law,” she said, adding that Congress can withdraw such power when it becomes necessary.

Poe also said everything would go well for as long as the Executive complies with the restrictions and the provisions that Congress sets forth, the bidding or procurement process is above board and deliveries are on schedule.”

“If they [administration] need the emergency power to be able to acquire right of way, property, or to be able to facilitate faster relations with local government units, why not? Anyway, there’s that particular provision where Congress can take it back anytime if we [legislators] feel it’s not needed anymore,” Poe said.