Rody to declare ‘traffic crisis’ in Metro Manila

Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) | June 3, 2016 – 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines – President-elect Rodrigo Duterte will declare a “traffic crisis” in Metro Manila so he can take extraordinary measures to ease vehicular congestion, his choice of economic planning secretary Ernesto Pernia said yesterday.

“He discussed the traffic problem in the metropolis during his first meeting with his Cabinet appointees on Tuesday. This is one of the concerns he wants to immediately address,” Pernia told ABS-CBN News Channel.

“He wants to implement emergency measures without going through Congress. He wants relief from traffic congestion for commuters within three to six months,” he added, without specifying what those measures would be.

Pernia said the incoming administration feels that the traffic congestion in Metro Manila impedes progress and leads to a situation where “billions are lost daily in fuel cost, man hours and opportunities.”

He reiterated that the Duterte government would try to top the 6.9-percent economic growth achieved by the Aquino administration in the first quarter by aiming for an annual rate of 7-8 percent.

“We really need to do 12 percent for six consecutive years to make a significant dent on poverty,” Pernia revealed.

One of the ways to speed up growth, he added, is to get the public-private partnership (PPP) projects moving, promising to remove bottlenecks in the PPP project implementation.

The PPP Center is attached to the National Economic and Development Authority, which he will head.

“We will respect PPP contracts entered into by the Aquino administration, but contractors would have to accelerate their implementation and completion,” Pernia said.

He said economic development would be “rebalanced,” with growth being dispersed to the regions and felt by the poor and rural folk.

“We will push for projects in the regions to attain rural development,” he said.

He lamented that growth under the Aquino administration has benefitted the rich and not the poor.

The incoming leadership would also review all coal-fired power plant projects, he added.

“We have to move away from coal and toward renewable energy, which is expensive in the short run but should be cheaper in the long run,” he said.

Source: www.philstar.com/headlines