By Cai U. Ordinario & Butch Fernandez

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said it will draft a Philippine Transportation System Master Plan to improve the country’s logistics system and boost economic growth in rural areas.

Documents obtained by the BusinessMirror indicated that the government will spend P120 million to complete the plan in two years.

The plan will involve both urban and rural areas and not just Metro Manila. It will integrate various modes of transport, such as roads, railways, urban transport and airports nationwide.

“[The plan will] establish a seamless multimodal logistics system in the country to ensure efficient and unimpeded flow of people, commodities, supplies and inputs to tourism, agricultural production and industrial/economic zones,” the documents read.

While the Neda will be the implementing agency for the project, it will closely coordinate with other agencies and the private sector.

Specifically, the departments of Transportation, Public Works and Highways, and Trade and Industry will also be involved in crafting the national transportation plan.

The Neda said private-sector representatives, such as chambers of commerce and shipping and airline industry groups, would be asked to participate.

“[The plan also aims to] create an economic corridor, where development benefits not only major cities but also rural areas and smaller towns, in line with the [new] administration’s policy direction to decentralize development away from highly urbanized areas,” the documents read.

The Neda envisions the plan to provide guidance to the overall development of the Subic-Clark-Manila-Batangas corridor and other similar corridors to become seamless logistics regions.

The master plan will provide an analysis of the current logistics systems in the country and its problems. This will entail the review of existing studies, master plans and existing policies.

It will also review present socio-economic conditions; land use/regional development plans; logistics infrastructure; and analyze passenger and freight movement.

The master plan will formulate baseline indicators, such as those on transport cost, travel time and environmental impact. This will help provide an assessment of the financial and economic viability of projects and programs.

“[The plan will] consider the intermodality of transport network system in coordination with the industrial and area development plans to identify necessary programs, projects and policies,” the documents read.

“[It will also] promote subregional economic logistics cooperation and utilize the logistics system of the regions traversed by the logistics corridor for greater and more efficient connectivity,” it added.

Metro Manila traffic

Harassed daily commuters are not likely to get early relief from proposed emergency powers
being crafted by Congress to enable government agencies concerned to quickly address Metro Manila’s crippling traffic gridlocks.

“Unfortunately, there’s no specific date [for passage of emergency-powers bill] except that there are promising developments,” Sen.Grace Poe told reporters  on Thursday when asked how soon commuters can expect to begin getting relief from the traffic mess.

Poe, who chairs the Public Services Committee spearheading Senate hearings on the emergency-power proposal and eight other pending traffic-reduction bills, cited as an example the Ninoy Aquino International Airport “connector road” that was opened to vehicular traffic yesterday.

In addition, she said public works officials informed the committee that an ongoing east-bound commuter train project from Metro Manila to Antipolo is expected to be finished “by 2018.”

The senator added: “We are now at 2016, so we’re looking at two years but there are other implementable traffic reduction projects similar to the airport connector road.”

At the same time, Poe reported that the committee hearing affirmed that the implementation of traffic rules does not require emergency powers.

She added the committee hearing brought out the possibility of adopting the so-called tele-
commuting option, where employees can work at home to avoid traffic, but are hobbled by slow Internet connections. Poe suggested that the emergency-powers bill being crafted by Congress could cover and facilitate installation of additional cell sites all over the country to speed up Internet connections.

That way, she added, workers need not commute to go to work as they can do their work at home, effectively reducing traffic volume.

This developed as the Senate Committee on Public Services concluded public hearings on the emergency powers sought by Malacañang to fix the country’s worsening traffic crisis and speed up key infrastructure projects, with the panel readying to craft a committee report of the measure to be submitted to plenary in November.

In opening the third and final public hearing, Poe said the committee has approached “the last mile so it would be best to chart the remaining course so we can finish on schedule and endorse the bill for plenary debate.”

“We will be having technical working groups [TWGs] unless something comes up that we need to call another hearing,” Poe said during the three-hour public hearing. She added the committee may conduct three TWG meetings to draft a committee report on the emergency-powers bill and specify locations of the projects.

Congress will go on session break starting October  22 and will resume on November  7. Congress
will go on holiday break on December 17 to January 15 next year.

In a statement, Poe said the emergency-powers bill may hurdle the Senate by December, given that the proposed P3.35- trillion spending program for 2017 takes precedence.

Consolidation of bills

The House Committee on Transportation on Thursday approved the creation of a TWG that will consolidate 10 bills seeking to grant President Duterte emergency powers to address the traffic crisis.

Liberal Party Rep. Cesar Sarmiento of Catanduanes, the panel chairman, said the TWG seeks to produce a substitute bill on emergency powers.

“It has been moved and seconded that we create a TWG that will harmonize and consolidate all the proposals and come up with a substitute bill for consideration by the mother committee and then for consideration in the plenary debate,” Sarmiento said.

“After October 7, that will be the time the TWG can meet and invite resource persons. Before the congressional break on October 22, we will meet and then present to the mother committee what we’ve agreed upon,” said Sarmiento, who will head the TWG.

He added the TWG will be done with the substitute bill by November and be able to present the measure to the Committee on Transportation. Sarmiento said the bill will subsequently be referred to the Committee on Appropriations because of the funding component.

The emergency-powers proposal has been included in the legislative agenda of the 17th Congress.

Pursuant to Article VI, Section 23 (2) of the 1987 Constitution, Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez said House Bill 3 seeks to authorize the President to exercise emergency powers necessary and proper to effectively respond to the multiple problems caused by the worsening and debilitating land- and air-traffic crisis in the country.

The DOTr has submitted its own draft emergency-powers bill and the list of sectoral projects that the agency will implement to address the traffic and congestion crisis.

Citing the report of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the DOTr said the country loses P2.4 billion per day, or the equivalent of $51 million per day in potential income, as a result of traffic-congestion problems and lost productivity.

Rights of urban poor

Party-list Rep. Tom Villarin of Akbayan reminded authorities that the welfare of the urban poor should not be sacrificed.

“As much as we all want the traffic crisis to be solved, we must remember that the rights of the urban poor are just as important as other people’s right to free, fast and convenient travel,” Villarin said.

Villarin added that  the government is planning to construct various infrastructure projects next year, such as elevated highways and railway extensions to alleviate the traffic problem that has been hounding Metro Manila and other major cities.

However, he said it is a reality that many of these proposed areas of construction are currently occupied by informal-settler families.

“In these areas, the government can’t simply start construction without providing families with decent relocation,” Villarin added.

“It’s also inhumane to simply throw them outside the cities. That’s why we need a good relocation program where that integrates the housing, livelihood and transportation needs for everyone, including the marginalized,” he added.

Villarin is the principal author of House Bill 1613, which enacts in-city or near-city relocation of informal settlers, in order to provide them with access to jobs, mass transport and other
public services. During his State of the Nation Address, President Duterte said authorities cannot conduct demolitions without proper relocation for families, who will be displaced.

Sources:www.businessmirror.com.ph