Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Emergency Powers: The ‘quick fix’ to the traffic crisis



Updated December 5, 2016, 2:22 PM By Andrew James Masigan

In terms of economic blowback, Metro Manila’s traffic has become as serious, if not worse, than the power crisis of 1991.Back then, FVR was able to swiftly fill the power shortfall through emergency powers.  The Duterte administration hopes to do the same for traffic.
For years, the public has  called on the Arroyo and Aquino administrations to classify  the  traffic  situation as a national crisis and to take appropriate action,  accordingly.   It fell on deaf ears.  Fortunately, the Duterte administration is more responsive.   Solving the traffic mess is now its   top priority and the DOTr, under Secretary Art Tugade, is leading the charge.
Like the power crisis, there is no quick fix to the traffic quagmire. The only solution is to build the infrastructure needed to allow  efficient mobility. In a recent meeting with Sec. Tugade, I was briefed on 39 projects that would bring about seamless  intermodal  connectivity within the metropolis.
Among the projects in the DOTr’s pipeline are two  Bus Rapid Transport lines running Edsa  and Quezon Avenue; LRT 1 & 2 extensions;  two Integrated  Transport Terminals at the Coastal Road and the  FTI Complex;   MRT 4 from Taytay to Pureza;  Subway Line 5 connecting Ortigas, BGC and Makati; MRT  Line 6 from Niyog to Dasmarinas, Cavite;  MRT 7 from North Edsa to San Jose,Bulacan;  PNR North Commuter  from Tutuban to  Malolos and onwards to Clark;   and the  PNR South Commuter from Tutuban to Laguna.
Infrastructure investments will approximate P8 trillion, all of which will put Philippine infrastructure at par with that of Thailand.  An  upshot of this is that spending in this magnitude will pump prime the economy  to grow by at  least six  percent until 2022.  It will also ensure our place as a competitive economy in the coming decade.
Sec. Tugade commits to roll-out these projects within five years, along  massive  road construction  projects from the  DPWH.  The caveat is that  it needs emergency powers to pull it off.   Without it, delays can run up to a decade given our tedious procurement processes, right of way issues and TROs.
Last September, Sec. Tugade presented the petition for emergency powers to the Senate Committee on Public Services  headed by Sen. Grace Poe. The senator was not convinced. She stressed the need for  tighter controls given the scale of public funds to be spent.  Neither was she satisfied with the DOTr’s package of accountability measures which include having a Senate oversight committee and having a  “transparency  portal” where all transactions entered into will be posted  online.
This is my take on the matter.  The traffic crisis has come to a point where we no longer have the luxury to expend precious time in endless deliberations.   We must build now.  Not to do so will render Metro Manila an even more hostile environment for business and life, not to mention compromise the country’s economic development in the years to come.
Let’s not fool ourselves, corruption exist even with the most stringent control measures in place. Assuming we suffer a 15 percent corruption leak with emergency powers,  it will still be less than the losses we will incur if we don’t  build.   As it stands, losses due to traffic already amount to a staggering P865 billion a year.
We should support the DOTr plan to expedite infrastructure construction through emergency powers since what is at stake is our economic survival and our quality of life.  It is the solution we have long been waiting for.
At last, the DOTr is working  with the urgency that a crisis calls for.  We should not allow the  bureaucracy to stand in its way.

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