The Japan International Cooperation Agency has offered five proposals as medium-term solutions to decongest roads in the capital region.
Jica made the recommendations in a 2014 study, which are often cited as bases for the emergency powers sought to enable President Rodrigo Duterte to address the vehicular traffic crisis in Metro Manila,
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” which seeks to grant Duterte extra powers to address the Metro Manila vehicular traffic congestion, has backed the Jica study called “Roadmap for Infrastructure Development for Metro Manila and Surrounding Areas.”
The study estimated productivity loss of around P2.4 billion a day or more than P800 billion a year from the daily traffic jams.
“If the traffic congestion continues to be unabated, the traffic cost is expected to increase to P6 billion a day,” Drilon said, citing findings of the study.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, who spearheaded the proposal to give Duterte emergency powers to solve road congestion, also supported the results of the study, which showed the economic impact of traffic and its effect on families and their quality of life.
Jica noted that since domestic shipping was primarily from the south of Manila, there would be savings in operating cost if they docked as Batangas rather than at Manila North Harbor.
“This would also trigger a shift of cargo movements away from Manila and provide a volume of exportable TEUs [twenty-foot equivalent unit cargoes] that may entice foreign vessels to call at Batangas port,” the study said.
“This would free up North Harbor, which has an area of about 600 hectares, for possible conversion into a mixed-use waterfront property development,” it added.
Tugade added a major impediment in solving traffic congestion in most metropolis was the restraining orders, injunctions, right-of-way issues, and regulations from local governments, aside from people’s lack of discipline.
As a mid-term solution to the traffic problem, Jica proposed finding a replacement for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport within a short radius of 50 kilometers and to “examine the full range of costs.”
“Redeveloping Sangley [a former US airbase 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, referring to a proposal to transfer the main gateway to Clark.
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 as Makati City, Bonifacio Global City, Ortigas, North Triangle and the Food Terminal Inc. complex in Alabang.