THE government is studying the proposal to levy a congestion tax to discourage vehicles from using congested roads and ease the traffic gridlock in Metro Manila, an official said Friday.
“It’s called congestion fee,” Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Thomas Orbos told reporters in Malacañang.
“We’re looking at that. In fact, there have been several meetings between the inter-agency council on traffic and the Singaporean government to precisely take a look at it.”
Orbos also said six more government properties will be opened to vehicular traffic to ease the congestion in Metro Manila after the MMDA opened Camp Aguinaldo to private vehicles to lessen the number of vehicles using Edsa to and from Katipunan and Santolan.
Among those to be opened in the coming days are the Bonifacio Naval Station at the Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, to ease the gridlock from Lawton to Pasong Tamo; the Office for Transportation Security along the airport area, which will be opened next week; a village road that will connect Edsa to Jupiter Street in Makati; the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman; an MMDA property on Roxas Boulevard, and several properties of the Philippine National Railways and National Power Corp.
Singapore had earlier implemented the Certificate of Entitlement to limit the number of new vehicles and the Electronic Road Pricing or congestion tax to discourage vehicles from using congested roads.
More than 25 years since the congestion tax was first conceived and implemented, many other big cities that have adopted the principle are enjoying the benefits of such a system like London and Stockholm, which combined the scheme with other green measures that discourage fuel emission in confined areas.
Orbos said consultations with groups and legislators were needed before a law could be passed to levy the congestion tax.
“That will need consultations especially with the congressmen because I think they need to pass a law … To put another fee might need some legislation,” he said.