NEDA pushes infra projects to decongest Metro traffic

MANILA, Philippines – The Duterte administration will push for the immediate construction of a bridge that would connect Ortigas Center in Pasig to Bonifacio Global City in Taguig to decongest the flow of traffic along EDSA by about 25 percent, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Enesto Pernia said yesterday.

In a briefing on the performance of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in the first 50 days of the new administration, Pernia said economic managers also placed high priority on the resolution of the LRT-MRT common station tussle, and the use of the Batangas and Subic ports to decongest Manila ports.

These projects and measures would be subject for approval by the NEDA Board in September.

The Bonifacio Global City-Ortigas link bridge needs to be constructed before the rehabilitation and retrofitting of the Guadalupe Bridge  can be undertaken. It would create a diversionary route for traffic on the country’s busiest thoroughfare and lighten the flow of traffic on EDSA and C5.

The proposed bridge would traverse the Pasig River to link Ortigas and BGC. The first phase of the project would run from Sta. Monica Street in Kapitolyo, Pasig to Lawton Avenue in Makati, while the second phase would run from Lawton to BGC viaduct, then from Shaw Boulevard to the Sta. Monica viaduct.

Strong opposition from residents of Barangay Kapitolyo in Pasig has been delaying the implementation of the project. They claim that building the bridge would affect traffic in their community and put their security at risk.

NEDA Deputy Director General for Investment Programming Rolando Tungpalan said it was agreed during the recent meeting of the NEDA Infrastructure Committee that modifications in the alignment of the bridge on the Pasig side would have to made to create a compromise between the affected homeowners and the need to provide a solution to the worsening traffic on EDSA.

Also high on the priority list for immediate implementation is breaking the impasse over the common station linking Light Rail Transit (LRT) 1, Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 and  MRT 7.

The involved parties – the Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), San Miguel Corp., SM Group, Ayala Land Inc. and the Department of Transportation – have agreed in principle to have a common station situated between SM and Trinoma malls in North EDSA.

Pernia said economic managers also slated for NEDA Board approval the use of the Batangas and Subic ports to decongest Manila ports.

He also announced that NEDA has raised the project cost floor from P1 to P5 billion in line with reforms on the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) appraisal and approval process.

“This means projects (costing) below P5 billion can go faster. It does not have to go through the entire ICC and NEDA board approval process,” he said.

Pernia said economic managers would pursue solutions to Metro Manila traffic with or without the grant of emergency powers to President Duterte.

“Even without the emergency powers, our work on these projects would continue round-the clock,” he said.

President Duterte is seeking emergency powers from Congress to address traffic woes.

The emergency powers that the president would have for two years would allow the government to deal with a myriad of traffic-related problems such as right-of-way issues and doing away with bidding for some infrastructure projects in favor of direct procurement.