THE Japan International Cooperation Agency has proposed the transfer of Manila North Harbor and Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Metro Manila to the provinces, warning that the metropolis’ traffic crisis, if it goes unabated, will cost P6 billion a day or P2.19 trillion annually in productivity losses.
The JICA study prompted lawmakers including Liberal Party’s Senator Franklin Drilon to file a bill seeking to grant President Rodrigo Duterte emergency powers to deal with the transport crisis.
JICA proposed the transfer of traffic-prone Manila North Harbor to Batangas and NAIA to Sangley Point in Cavite, to decongest Metro Manila which teemed with 70 traffic hot spots.
In Senate Bill 11, Drilon said the traffic congestion has resulted in an estimated productivity loss of around P2.4 billion a day or more than P800 billion a year.
“If the traffic congestion continues to be unabated, the traffic cost is expected to increase to P6 billion a day,” Drilon warned, citing the 2014 JICA study.
The snowballing calls for emergency powers came even as the Metro Manila Development Aurhority or MMDA disclosed seven choke points along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), NAIA and the roads leading to Manila North Harbor especially Circumferential Road – 3 (C-3 Road), A. Mabini Street, Dagat-Dagatan Avenue, North Bay Boulevard and Radial Road 10 (R-10) as among those in the list of traffic-prone areas.
The JICA has proposed that since domestic shipping is primarily from the south of Manila, there would be savings in ship operating cost “if they dock at Batangas rather than at Manila North Harbor.”
“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.
“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.
“For the city of Manila, it represents an opportunity to revitalize a city and regain its old glory,” the Jica study said.
As a mid-term solution to the traffic problem, Jica has proposed finding a replacement for the Naia within a short radius of 50 kilometers and to “examine the full range of costs.”
Drilon said his proposed measure called Transportation Crisis Act of 2016, would authorize Duterte to adopt alternative methods of procurement for the construction, repair, rehabilitation, improvement or maintenance of transportation projects aided at easing the traffic congestion in Metro Manila and other urban areas.
Among the alternative methods were negotiated procurement, limited source bidding, direct contracting, repeat order and shopping.
Drilon blamed the daily traffic jams on poor enforcement of traffic rules and the overlapping functions of government agencies such as the Department of Transportation and Communication and its attached agencies as Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory board and Land Transportation Office, MMDA and local government units.
Crisanto Saruca, head of the MMDA Traffic Discipline Office, attributed the traffic problem to the lack of modern mass transport system, the increasing number of vehicles and road obstructions, among others.
Transporation Secretary Arthur Tugade, who also spearheaded the proposal to give Duterte emergency powers to solve road congestion, also cited the results of the study, which showed the economic impact of traffic 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,” Tugade said.
Tugade also added that 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.
Drilon said the proposed emergency powers would be effective for two years and the funds needed to implement it were to be sourced from the current budget of the agencies involved, proceeds from the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge Fund (road users’ tax) and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Incoming House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao City was the first to broach the idea to grant Duterte emergency powers.
Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was the first to file the bill granting Duterte special powers to address the monstrous traffic problem.
The JICA study, called “Roadmap for Infrastructure Development for Metro Manila and Surrounding Areas,” contained five tough proposals as medium-term solutions to decongest roads in the capital city.
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 the redevelopment of North Harbor as a waterfront property development.
In the case of NAIA, JICA proposed the redeveloping of Sangley (a former US airbase in Cavite) combined with an access system or expropriating land to create a second runway on NAIA that may turn out to be cheaper, to support its proposal to transfer the main gateway to Clark Air Base 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. With Macon Araneta and Joel Zurbano