THE Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the concerned private groups have already agreed to sign an agreement for a common station connecting the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3, Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 and MRT 7, Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said on Friday.
During deliberations on the DOTr’s proposed 2017 P55.4-billion budget, Tugade told lawmakers that the agreement would be signed by September 28.
“We’ve met separately and collectively with all these stakeholders. We had a meeting yesterday [Thursday], all the heads of the stakeholders, including [Ayala Corp. Chairman Jaime Zobel de] Ayala, [San Miguel Corp. President] Ramon S. Ang, businessman Manny V. Pangilinan and [SM Investment Corp. Vice Chairman Teresita] Sy-Coson. All have agreed that there has to be connectivity; all agreed that we will have a common station; all have agreed that we will sign an agreement by the end of this month expressing full conformity to one single station,” Tugade said.
“There will be a meeting on September 28 to sign the agreement during the time. What is the basic technical issue involved is whether there will be an overpass or underpass. But the connectivity is given assumption,” he added.
The common station, which will rise between Ayala’s TriNoma and Sy’s SM North Edsa, will connect the LRT Line 1, the MRT Line 3 and the yet-to-be-constructed P63-billion MRT Line 7.
The MRT 7 will be constructed by San Miguel Holdings Corp.’s Universal LRT Corp. (ULC).
“In our first early days, this was one of our priorities to put meaning and life to that one single station,” Tugade said. “All of them saw the importance of one single station. All of them saw the difficulty of making people walk to do connectivity between LRTs and MRTs. All of them agreed that there’s got to be connectivity.”
The common alignment has been in limbo ever since the previous transport department reviewed the project’s technical and financial components years back.
To recall, the transportation department decided to change the station’s location from SM North Edsa to TriNoma after several reviews on the project’s technical and financial components.
SM Prime sought court intervention, as it initially paid P200 million for the naming rights of the station. This led to the transportation department’s proposal of building two common stations as a compromise to the feud.
Building two common alignments would cost somewhere between P2.2 billion to P2.6 billion, which was the cost of the original three-in-one station approach.
Building a single station in TriNoma would only cost P1.4 billion.
The compromise deal is aimed at ending the stay order issued by the Supreme Court and moving toward the construction of the facilities.
Emergency powers
Meanwhile, Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, at the sideline of the budget hearing, assured the public that Congress will not give a blanket definition of emergency powers to President Duterte.
“We need to identify carefully what will be the projects under the emergency powers, but we assure you we will not allow blanket definition of emergency powers,” he said. Tugade, on the other hand, said emergency powers will solve the traffic problem in the country.
He added that through the emergency powers, the next government will be allowed to open private subdivisions to commuters and will provide President Duterte the option to forego public biddings to speed up construction.
Tugade noted that bidders’ legal actions have delayed the implementation of government projects.
The procurement law provides that all government projects should be subjected to a public bidding to ensure that the government gets the most affordable and best possible transaction.
However, the law also allows direct contracting and negotiated contracting in “highly exceptional cases.” Earlier, the Speaker has expressed confidence that Congress may pass the proposal granting President Duterte emergency powers before the year ends.
Alvarez added that the measure granting Mr. Duterte emergency powers that will address traffic problems in the country is one the priority measures of the lower chamber.
The Speaker said the lower chamber is eyeing to start its deliberations on the emergency powers this month.
According to Alvarez, Congress will pass first the bill granting President Duterte emergency powers before it constitutes itself into a constituent assembly and jump-start the country’s shift to a federal form of the government.
“We will prioritize the emergency powers. The country is experiencing horrendous and worsening unsolved traffic crisis caused by insufficient infrastructures coupled with inefficient management of transportation services,” said Alvarez, author of House Bill 3, or the Traffic Crisis Act of 2016, during the Philippine Constitution Association membership meeting on Tuesday.
In his bill, Alvarez, citing the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), said the Philippines loses P2.4 billion per day, or equivalent to $51 million per day, in potential income as a result of traffic-congestion problems and lost productivity.
“Also, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) concluded that without the necessary intervention by the authorities, traffic costs will likely increase to
P6 billion a day, which costs are based from several factors, namely, value of time lost due to delay, fuel costs, vehicle operating costs, impact of health, greenhouse-gas emissions, great demand for transport-cost expenses from household income, productivity losses and overcapacity of registered vehicles, whether public or private,” he said.
Under the Constitution, Congress is tasked to approve the grant of emergency powers to the President through a resolution approved by two-thirds of its members in a joint session.
Alvarez’s bill allows the President to reorganize the Department of Transportation (DOTr) with Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and Toll Regulatory Board of the Philippines for land transportation concerns; and the Civil Aviation Board and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines for air-traffic problems, to make them more effective, innovative and responsive agencies to solve both land- and air-traffic crisis.
The bill said the President may also abolish or create offices; split, group, or merge government positions; transfer functions, equipment, properties, records and personnel; institute drastic cost-cutting measures and take such other related actions necessary to carry out the purpose herein declared.
“The authority granted to the President under this act be valid and effective for a period of two years from the effectivity of the act unless sooner withdrawn by a resolution of Congress,” the measure said.
It also allows the President to create and establish a centralized traffic authority—both on air and on land—empowered to address all traffic concerns and implement better management services resulting from balanced integration of traffic education, engineering and enforcement of services.
The bill said the President may administer and implement remedial and such other related measures to address the traffic crisis in the country, which shall include:
- the creation and establishment of mass transport system;
- the transfer of transport terminals to decongest choke points in Metro Manila and other major cities;
creation or immediate establishment or designation of alternative international airports and the creation of parallel runways, if feasible, to decongest airport traffic, in order to relieve and alleviate traffic situation and spread through less congested areas near or adjacent Metro Manila; - transfers of public markets on busy highways;
- the establishment of Friendship routes, or alternative routes by opening an otherwise private subdivision road to nonresident motorists, with the option to provide nonfiscal incentives in return for the use of the said private roads; gated communities and gated military camps parallel to major thoroughfares may, likewise, be opened, subject to conditions and restrictions;
- ν the issuance and implementation of rules on the working hours of employees and workers in government, and whenever it becomes necessary, in the private sector to alleviate traffic congestion during rush hours;
- exercise state power of eminent domain in order to appropriate private property for establishment of easement or right of way, expansion of public roads or other public purposes, with payment of reasonable compensation usually based on the fair market value of the strip of land and for any effect the condemnation of that strip has on the value of the owners’ remaining property;
- formulate, coordinate and regulate the implementation of medium- and long-term plans and programs for the delivery of nationwide transportation-related services, consistent with national developmental objectives and priorities;
- whenever it is advantageous to the government, the President may enter into negotiated contracts for the construction, repair, rehabilitation, improvement or maintenance of roads, bridges, railways, toll roads, expressways, skyways, airport runways and facilities, and similar infrastructure and facilities, and the procurement of coaches, subject to requirements;
- implement the “road map for transport infrastructure development for Metro Manila and its surrounding areas” approved by the Neda board, known as the “dream plan” road map, estimated to cost the government P2.3 million;
- to temporarily take over or direct the operation of any transportation franchise, which is found to have redundantly violated the herein declared national policy.
Mindanao railway
Meanwhile, the DOTr said the government will award the 2,000-kilometer Mindanao railway project before the year ends. Tugade told lawmakers that Mindanao railway project is one of President Duterte administration’s priority projects.
“The presentations with National Economic Development Authority have started. This has been placed on a fast-track. The priority plans, the design, the destination and the origin are being laid out now,” he said.
“Once that is in place, hopefully, we are targeting before the end of next year, the award and the plan and the study,” Tugade said.
In the Senate, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III filed Senate Bill 112, or the creation of Mindanao Railways Corp.
Pimentel, citing collective experience of Japan, Canada, the United States and most of Europe, said railroad networks spurred and sped up their national development.
He said the proposed railroad network crisscrossing Mindanao would considerably shorten travel time between Zamboanga and Cagayan de Oro, and Davao and Cagayan de Oro.
Under Pimentel’s proposal, the Mindanao Railways Corp. would have a corporate existence of 50 years, with an authorized capital of P100 billion, divided into P500 million common shares with par value of P200 apiece fully subscribed by the national government.
The bill said the initial paid-up capital of the corporation will be set at P20 billion, with the balance to be provided under a continuing annual appropriation of not less than P2 billion from the national Treasury.