Monday, August 21, 2017

DPWH EARMARKS P113B: Gov’t plans to ease MM traffic in 3 years

The government is planning to ease the traffic problem in Metro Manila in three years or by 2020, through the completion of by-pass roads and bridges and major expressway projects.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which obtained the second highest budget this year at P467.6 billion next to the Department of Education, has earmarked a big portion of this, or P113.1 billion, for traffic decongestion specially in Metro Manila. The budget is expected to increase to P160.1 billion by next year.

The investment will be used to implement the high standard highway, expressway construction, widening of national roads and bridges, and construction of bypasses/diversion roads, flyover, interchange and underpass.

Mark Villar, DPWH secretary, said Metro Manila’s landscape will change by 2020 once the major expressway projects such as Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 (MMSS3)and the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX)-South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) connector road are completed.

“We have already started the right-of-way acquisition for the connector. We will be opening the first ramp of the Skyway extension by first quarter next year and we awarded the Sta. Monica bridge, then we will finish the first phase of Laguna Lake Highway,” Villar said.

Construction of the NLEX-SLEX connector road project of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. will start by fourth quarter this year. This will cut travel time between NLEX and SLEX to 15 to 20 minutes, from the current more than an hour travel.

San Miguel Corp.’s MMSS3 project,a 14.8-kilometer, six-lane elevated expressway, will connect SLEX and NLEX from Buendia in Makati to Balintawak. This will reduce travel time from two hours to 20 minutes.

Villar had said the MMSS3 from SLEX will be accessible up to President Quirino avenue in Manila by second quarter next year.

These projects are part of the Luzon Spine Expressway network, which is composed of 18 projects, with some under public-private partnership, private sector and the government.

This is an expressway network from 385 km to 1,040 km high standard highways in Luzon. Travel time from La Union to Bicol would be eight hours and 15 minutes.

MMSS3, which started its construction in 2015, will be completed by 2019, while the NLEX-SLEX connector road project will be done by 2021.

The Laguna Lake Highway is expected to be completed in 2018. From Taytay to Bicutan, travel will be in 30 minutes.

The Southeast Metro Manila Expressway-C6 from Bicutan to Batasan will bring travel time to 26 minutes once completed.

Other projects are the Cavite-Laguna Expressway, the Radial Road 10 from Manila to Navotasfor travel in 30 minutes which will be completed this year and the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 to be completed by 2018.

The Metro Manila logistics improvement project will increase the 26 bridges to 38 bridges crossing Pasig River, Marikina and Manggahan Floodway by the end of the administration.

The bridges projects involve the Bonifacio Global City-Ortigas Center link road to be completed by 2020,Binondo-Intramuros bridge, Estrella-Pantaleon bridge, and Metro Manila priority bridges seismic improvement project Guadalupe bridge and Lambingan bridge for completion in 2021.

The Duterte administration has programmed an P8.9-trillion budget for infrastructure from 2017 to 2022.

According to the Japan International Cooperation Agency study in 2014, traffic congestion in Metro Manila is costing the Philippines at least P2.4 billion daily. If left without intervention, this is likely to reach P6 billion a day by 2030.

Preliminary analysis in the study showed the average low-income group households have to spend no less than 20 percent of their monthly household income for transport.
Without intervention, traffic demand will likely increase by 13 percent by 2030, and transport cost will be 2.5 times higher.

http://malaya.com.ph/business-news/business/dpwh-earmarks-p113b-gov%E2%80%99t-plans-ease-mm-traffic-3-years