Infrastructure projects like railways, toll roads and bridges are designed to speed up traffic and the delivery of goods and services. Faster transportation leads to increased economic production by way of creating new economic opportunities and generating more jobs.
Major railway and toll road projects also ease traffic, especially in the metropolis, and eliminate the gridlock often found in busy road lanes such as EDSA, Roxas Boulevard, España Blvd. and Taft Avenue. They are specifically drawn up to serve as alternative routes, and as mode of mass transportation to decongest traffic.
But what if some infrastructure projects and centers of economic activities, like mega malls and big commercial centers, are built and, instead, result in more traffic logjams in Metro Manila?
Policy makers, perhaps, should discourage certain infrastructure projects that only worsen the bottleneck in the capital region, and put a stop to the construction of giant malls that lure foot traffic and compound the logjam. Schools also contribute to the traffic problem.
The opening of certain private schools in San Juan, as I’ve written in this previous column before, caused a gridlock along the northbound stretch of EDSA that intersects Ortigas Avenue in Quezon City. For two straight days in late August this year, the logjam at the intersection created a two-kilometer traffic as all types of vehicles occupied at least three lanes of EDSA, jostling against each other before turning right to Ortigas Avenue.
A growing population, the lack of mass transportation system and wide roads, and the continuous migration of workers from the provinces have created the perfect storm that is causing mayhem in the whole of the capital region. The traffic situation in the metropolis may get worse even before it improves. Growing vehicle sales in the Philippines are further constricting the capacities of the roads in Metro Manila.
The government has favored a decongestion policy to solve the traffic mess in the National Capital Region. But it is far from implementing one. The Department of Transportation, for instance, is pushing through with the rehabilitation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
It began inviting interested parties to participate in a single-stage competitive bidding process for a rehabilitate-operate-expand-transfer modality in accordance with the Build-Operate-and-Transfer Law and its revised 2022 implementing rules and regulations.
A consortium composed of six of the country’s biggest conglomerates earlier offered an unsolicited proposal to modernize NAIA and make it at par with modern airports in Asia. With the makeover, the consortium assured NAIA would have the ability to serve up to 70 million passengers a year efficiently, or more than double its current capacity.
But a modern NAIA with a much bigger passenger capacity will certainly contribute to the traffic logjam in Metro Manila, unless it offered a solution to address the gridlock it will create.
Expanding Clark International Airport in Pampanga seems to be a more logical choice. It decongests traffic in the capital region, especially if it incorporates a railway component. Modern urban centers in the world build and design their airports with a rail link to improve the accessibility of passengers to downtown areas or, in some cases, suburbs or distant cities.
Building a satellite city just outside Metro Manila that includes malls and schools also makes better sense.
Authorities, in the meantime, should require infrastructure project proponents, owners of mega malls and big school operators to submit system impact studies (SIS) on traffic, similar to what is asked of new power generation projects.
Power companies have the obligation to submit the SIS to National Grid Corporation of the Philippines to ensure their new projects can connect to the grid without causing issues to the network.
The conduct of the SIS is necessary to determine the capacity of the power grid to accommodate a new generator. It identifies necessary improvements, such as additional transmission lines, transformers, or substations.
In the case of the SIS on traffic, authorities must require proponents to offer solutions to the traffic that their projects may create. A government agency in charge of approving the SIS should dismiss projects outright if the proponents fail to address Metro Manila’s traffic congestion. The SIS on traffic should put teeth into the government decongestion policy.
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