DPWH to seek Erap nod for Anda Circle relocation

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will seek the approval of Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and the National Historical Commission (NHC) before it pushes through with its plan to relocate the historic Anda Circle in Port Area to ease traffic on the roads near Manila’s ports.

DPWH-National Capital Region director Reynaldo Tagudando said yesterday that the agency already sent a letter to Estrada, asking for his concurrence to the plan.

The DPWH is proposing that the Anda monument inside the rotonda be relocated to the Maestranza Park in Intramuros to make way for the installation of traffic signal lights in the area, turning it into an ordinary intersection.

The DPWH said it would take at least two weeks to remove and relocate the Anda monument.

DPWH Undersecretary Raul Asis earlier said that the DPWH is confident that converting the Anda Circle into an intersection would improve the flow of vehicular traffic in Port Area.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), however, said that removing Anda Circle would not necessarily mean a solution to the crippling traffic congestion in Port Area.

“It will be safe for motorists as there will be traffic control, but it will not guarantee that traffic congestion will be solved,” engineer Noemi Recio, head of MMDA’s Traffic Engineering Center, pointed out.

Recio explained that even if the rotonda is removed and an intersection equipped with traffic signals is put up by DPWH, traffic in Port Area would most likely still be crawling because of the sheer volume of trucks leaving and entering port and because of an ongoing road project by the DPWH along Bonifacio Drive.

The Anda Circle and monument was erected in honor of colonial Spanish Governor General Simon de Anda, who served in the Philippines from 1762 to 1764. He was honored for his resistance to the British invasion of Manila in 1762. – With Mike Frialde