Aquino sat on Jica-proposed solutions to traffic problem

Now it can be told: Not too many people know that in the last two years of his administration, former President Aquino sat on or just plain ignored proposed solutions to Metro Manila’s traffic problems submitted to him and his advisers by the Japan Internatiional Cooperation Agency (Jica), which conducted a study on the problem in 2014. 

At the time, the study alread6 estimated productivity loss of around P2.4 billion a day or more than P800 billion a year from the daily traffic jams and that if the problem remained unsolved, the cost would rise to P6 billion a day or P180 billion a month by 2030.

The Jica study, which is now being cited as basis for the emergency powers being sought for President Duterte to address the vehicular traffic crisis in Metro Manila, contains five tough proposals as medium-term solutions to decongest roads in the metropolis.

The proposals included a restudy of the gateway airport options for Metro Manila, the feasibility of a mega-Manila Subway System, reform of the road-based public-transport system, feasibility of secondary mass-transport system lines and a redevelopment of the congested North Harbor.

Senate President Franklin Drilon, in submitting Senate Bill 11, or the “Transportation Crisis Act of 2016” that seeks to grant Mr. Duterte special powers to address the vehicular traffic congestion, cited as basis the Jica study, called the “Roadmap for Infrastructure Development for Metro Manila and Surrounding Areas.” Under Drilon’s bill, Mr. Duterte would be granted the power to adopt alternative methods of procurement for the construction repair, rehabilitation, improvement or maintenance of transportation projects aimed at the reduction of traffic congestion in the Metro Manila and other urban areas.

Drilon’s bill also proposed the establishment of an “urban traffic management authority,” which will have the sole responsibility of streamlining the management of traffic in the metropolis.

It would be headed by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Department of Transportation and its satellite agencies, namely, the Land Transportation and Fare Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO), as well as the local government units (LGUs) in the metropolis.

Transporation Secretary Arthur Tugade, who spearheaded the proposal to give Mr. Duterte special powers to solve the vehicular traffic crisis, also cited the results of the Jica study that showed the economic impact of the traffic problem and its effect on families and their quality of life. “Children are waiting for their parents after work. But they are stuck in traffic, instead of being with their family. Our quality of life has drastically changed from bad to worst. That has to be addressed,” he said.

Under the Senate proposal, the emergency powers would be in effect for only two years and their coverage would depend on Congress.

In pushing for the special presidential powers, Tugade noted that major impediments in solving traffic congestion in most metropolitan areas included the restraining orders, injunctions, right-of-way issues, and regulations from local governments, not to mention undisciplined drivers and pedestrians alike. Unless these can be effectively addressed, the problem will fester, he said, hence the need for the special presidential powers. As a mid-term solution to the traffic problem, Jica had proposed finding a replacement for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) within a short radius of 50 kilometers and to “examine the full range of costs.”

“Redeveloping Sangley [a former US air base in Cavite] combined with an access system or expropriating land to create a second runway on Naia may turn out to be cheaper,” it said in relation to a proposal to transfer the main gateway to Clark in Pampanga. It also said that time may have come to address the growing commuting requirements of major central business districts (in Metro Manila) with an underground mass-transit solution. It classifed the CBDs to be connected through a subway system the Manila Bay area, Makati City, Bonifacio Global City, Ortigas, North Triangle, and the Food Terminal Inc. complex in Alabang.

In January, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda)-Investment Coordinating Committee (ICC) approved the P374-billion subway project from Fort Bonifacio to the SM Mall of Asia in the reclamation area along Manila Bay, based on the Jica proposal.

The study also said the “atomized” operations of more than 35,000 jeepneys and 5,000 buses in Metro Manila were ill-suited to the requirements of a modern metropolis. “They are, however, necessary modes of public transport now and in the future, notwithstanding the massive expansion of the railway network,” JIica said.

It added that, since domestic shipping is primarily from the south of Manila, there would be savings in ship operating cost if they docked in Batangas rather than at the Manila North Harbor.

“This would also trigger a shift of cargo movements away from Manila and provide a volume of exportable TEUs [20-foot equivalent unit cargoes] that may entice foreign vessels to call at Batangas port,” the study said.

“This would free up the North Harbor, which has an area of about 600 hectares, for possible conversion into a mixed-use waterfront property development,” it added.

The Jica study said that, “for the city of Manila, it represents an opportunity to revitalize a city and regain its old glory.”

Seven choke points along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa) and the roads leading to the Manila North Harbor were on the list of traffic-prone areas that the MMDA identified the other day as immediately needing resolution and where emergency powers of the President would be needed most.

Crisanto Saruca, head of the MMDA Traffic Discipline Office, attributed the traffic problem to the lack of a modern mass-transport system, the increasing number of vehicles and road obstructions, among other factors.