Infrastructure to solve Metro Manila transport woes

One of the less headlined updates on the Build Build Build program of the Duterte administration is the approval for construction of eight bridges in Metro Manila, all of which would be started this year and eyed for completion by 2022.

This is on top of two bridges that will be strategically located in busy districts of Metro Manila that China has pledged to construct from a P5 billion grant. The first will connect the bustling Binondo and Intramuros districts, and the second will link Estrella Street in Makati to Barangka Drive in Mandaluyong.

There’s another bridge, as part of the BGC-Ortigas Center Link Road project, which together with the two above, would do wonders to help decongest the traffic that moves to and from the south and north of the metro, especially on EDSA, which is now clogged at almost all hours of the day.

The four-lane Sta. Monica to Lawton Bridge over the Pasig River is targeted for completion in early 2020, and will ease travel between the cities of Taguig and Pasig. Together with the completion of the C-6 road, this will finally allow C-5 to breathe.

The new bridges crossing the Pasig and Marikina rivers, as well as the Manggahan Floodway, will be built at an estimated cost of P28 billion. Financing will come from official development assistance funds.

Worsening before getting better

Will all these end Metro Manila commuters’ woes? Definitely, the construction and eventual completion of the new bridges will augment the existing eight bridges in Manila, three that link Makati and Mandaluyong, and one each between Makati and Pasig, and Pasig and Taguig. We will just have to wait for them to be inaugurated for public use.

Currently, the metro has 26 bridges, and adding about a dozen more in the next four years will open major alternative roads connected to new bridges, allowing for smoother flow of vehicles especially during the morning and evening rush hours.

Meanwhile, bear with the continuing escalation of traffic congestion on major thoroughfares of Metro Manila as more vehicles are sold every month despite the vowed dampening of sales with the passage of the new taxes on small cars.

The construction of new roads and elevated railways, as well, will squeeze further, albeit temporarily, the available road space for vehicles in the metro. Definitely, traffic will get worse before getting better.

The Metro Manila Development Authority is already dizzy trying to find solutions ease traffic on the main roads of Metro Manila’s 16 cities and one municipality, and it will be like going against a tsunami-like wave in the next four years.

Ambitious ferry system

One of the congestion-busting projects that MMDA could embark on would be the improvement of the Pasig River ferry system, which has had a long history of failure for various reasons, including low patronage.

The MMDA is operating the river ferry system until a private investor is identified. There are 12 stations that link Plaza Mexico in Intramuros, Manila to Pinagbuhatan Station in Pasig.

A Marikina River line connecting the Guadalupe Station in Makati and the Santa Elena Station in Marikina is in existence, but not operational – again, because of various problems. The same is true for the Laguna Lake ferry operations between Los Baños, Laguna and Binangonan, Rizal.

From a practical point of view, the ferry system offers a commuter system that is reliable, affordable, and time saving in terms of not being bogged down by the usual traffic problems.

The Department of Budget Management’s bright boys have pitched a Pasig River Ferry Convergence Program that will run from Manila Bay to Laguna Lake through Pasig River. The plan will call for 17 additional stations over the next four years, with commuter numbers rising to 76,800 passengers a day.

Cognizant of the tricky nature of ferry operations along the Pasig, the government would do best to keep expectations to manageable levels, meaning to stabilize the operations on the Pasig River line first, and expand eventually when a workable template is achieved.

The envisioned DBM-led ferry system, of course, will be a great disaster mitigation measure in the event of a major disaster in parts of the metropolis – but only if there is a working and sustainable system that the general public is familiar with.

Build Build Build update

Meanwhile, expect this year the start of other flagship transportation-related projects of the Duterte government: the 102-kilometer Mindanao Rail Project (Phase 1) from Tagum, Davao City to Digos in Region 11, the Philippine National Railway North 2 Project, and the 69.5-kilometer extension of the PNR North 1 from Malolos, Bulacan, to Clark International Airport. All are expected completed in 2024.

Also expected to break ground this year are the 639-kilometer PNR South Long-Haul railway Project that will connect Los Baños to Legazpi, Legazpi to Matnog, Calamba to Batangas, and Manila to Los Baños. This will be funded by China.

The first phase of the Japanese-financed Metro Manila Subway Project, a 25.3-km underground railway system connecting Quezon City and Taguig City, and extending to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, will begin next year, and will be completed in 2027.

All these projects will firmly define the current administration’s push for a golden age of infrastructure, an era of aggressive spending on new roads, bridges, ports, and even cities that the country needs to sustain economic growth in the next decades.

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