"The benefits of the project are quite obvious."
"The benefits of the project are quite obvious."
Great cities are built around great rivers. Rivers crossing metropolitan centers are the water of life and livelihood, often the lifeblood of trade and tourism and everything in between. They are also replete with culture and history and evoke legends, myths, grandeur and power, traversing as they do seats of power – palaces, mosques, temples, shrines, and mansions.
Thus, you have the Hudson River in New York where you can see the Statue of Liberty and Wall Street’s skyscrapers and where once a jumbo jet with a failed engine landed miraculously, without casualties, except for jarred nerves.
Shanghai has the Huangpu River, a tributary of Yangtze before it spills out into the East China Sea. The business district Bund overlooks it.
In Russia, between Moscow and St. Petersburg, you have the Yaroslavi River.
In Budapest, there is the mystical Danube which inspired famous waltzes.
In Paris, the city of lights, you have the River Seine which runs for 775 kilometers, the distance between Manila and Cagayan.
London has the River Thames, flowing 346 kilometers into southern England. Thames evokes royalty, romance, finance, in addition to trade and commerce.
Mainz, Germany has its own legendary Rhine River. Remember Lorelei, the beautiful maiden?
The Vltava River is the lifeline of Prague, running 400 kilometers into the Bohemian forest.
Aswan in Egypt has its Nile River, said to be the longest river in the world (6,600 kms) and the father of African rivers, running south to north of eastern Africa, (yes, Egypt is in Africa). Nine of ten Egyptians live by that river. The Nile reminds you of Biblical figures, Cleopatra, pharaohs, mummies, temples and pyramids.
The Philippines? Filipino tribes are named after rivers. Tagalog means taga-ilog (residents by the river), Pampango means by the riverbank. Iloilo? That is probably a twin river.
Agusan means where the water flows. Albay means by the water shore. Apayao means swift flowing river. Basilan means waterway into the open sea. Batangas means logs that used to float down Calumpang River. Benguet means living by the edge of a swamp. Bulacan means a muddy place.
The national capital, Manila, of course, has its Pasig River. It is short by global standards, just 19.4 kms, from Manila Bay to east of the capital. It links two great bodies of water, Manila Bay and Laguna Lake.
Sadly, our Pasig River reminds you of dirt (I am not referring the corruption by the presidential palace which by the way throws its sewage into the water), garbage, floods, and traffic. Pasig stinks, in other words, literally and figuratively.
San Miguel Corp. President and CEO Ramon S. Ang has a splendid idea on how to restore Pasig’s reputation and relevance to the lives of Filpinos. His idea: Tap not the dirty waters of Pasig (which he is cleaning, by the way, spending easily P2 billion) but the space above it.
This is the elevated six-lane Pasig River Expressway (Parex). Parex sounds like a heady brand of vitamins or rubber but it is probably what Pasig needs, a jolt.
RSA is spending P95.4 billion to build a 19.4-kilometer six-lane speed road above the Pasig River to seamlessly connect the western and eastern portions of Metro Manila. It will start from Radial Road 10 (R10) in Manila and end at a connection to the Southeast Metro Manila Expressway at C6 in Taguig.
San Miguel is seeking a 30-year toll road concession using the Build-Operate-Transfer Scheme.
Entry points at the University Belt area, San Juan, Buendia, Mandaluyong, Makati, Rockwell, EDSA, Pioneer Street, Bonifacio Global City (BGC), C5, and finally at C6.
The benefits of the project are quite obvious. They include:
–Cut travel time between the eastern and western side of Metro Manila to about 10-15 minutes from two hours at present.
–Decongest Rizal, Cainta, and Marikina, and provide an alternative access to the business districts of Makati, Ortigas, and BGC.
–Connect various highways connecting the east and west corridors of Metro Manila.
–Directly link the western and eastern cities of Metro Manila via an elevated expressway
—Decongest the primary corridors of R-10, EDSA and C-5 by providing connectivity among toll roads and freeways of Metro Manila by diverting the traffic volume to other alternative routes.
–Restore Pasig River’s depth and solve flooding instantly, thru a companion P2 billion clean-up and dredging, also courtesy of San Miguel.
San Miguel has also been conducting a massive clean-up of the Tullahan-Tinajeros river system, where it is clearing some 600 tons of waste per day, and recently moved its operations upstream to cover almost half of the Pasig river system.
Once completed, PAREX will be composed of three segments:
• Segment 1 (R-10 to Plaza Azul) – 5.74 kilometers.
• Plaza Azul to San Juan River (MMSS3) – 2.70 kms.
• Segment 2 (San Juan River to C5 Intersection) – 7.325 kms.
• Segment 3 (C5 Intersection – C6 Intersection)- 6.30 kms.
Estimated completion: Four years. Or less. By that time, hopefully, COVID would just be a memory.