HELL-BENT on addressing the dire need for reform in the transportation sector, President Duterte rose to power with a battle cry: Build as many infrastructure as possible and ensure that it will continue on even after his presidency.
Duterte’s appointed transportation chief, Arthur P. Tugade, shares the same view as the President, he needs to start constructing infrastructure or else, this so-called infrastructure crisis will take more decades to resolve.
During his first six months in office, Tugade was able to address certain backlogs and ease congestion in certain choke points, no matter the lack in facilities needed to ensure that his programs will be sustainable.
In the course of his initial stay at the transportation agency, Tugade has implemented measures to ease congestion in all fronts—be it rails, seaports, airports, and roads.
His recipe in addressing issues is simple: To solve problems the easiest, fastest and most beneficial way possible.
“We are trying to look into three years, five years and 30 years from now, and lay the ground work. So that what we are headed to will not be as chaotic as situation right now,” Transportation Spokesman Cherie Mercado-Santos said.
Reduction of red tape
BEING a businessman himself, Tugade sought for the reduction of red tape and the eradication of corruption in the agency.
This has led to multiple improvements in the sector in just six months.
Application for drivers’ license at the Land Transportation Office has been reduced from five hours to three-and-a-half hours. Franchise verification at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, likewise, sped up from three days to merely two hours.
The issuance of Seaman’s Book at the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) now runs at four hours from eight, and permit to operate ancillary services at the Philippine Ports Authority can now be secured in just half a day from a week.
Improved air connectivity, punctuality
IN the aviation sector, the transportation department has forced airlines to comply with their schedules. Tugade has implemented a policy which requires a carrier to depart from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) on its designated slot, else it will have to queue up as the last airline to fly during a short window period.
With this, on-time arrivals of flights improved from 41 percent to 71 percent, data from the Manila International Airport Authority showed.
The Duterte administration has also fixed the Instrument Landing System (ILS) in Naia Runway 2/4, allowing for better precision landing and fewer diverted flights. It was not operational for roughly two years.
Some private aircraft were also moved to Clark Field to limit the number of planes in the airport complex in Manila. The initial plan was to move them to Sangley Point in Cavite, but the airport there needed immediate rehabilitation, hence, the most plausible way to do is to move them to a functional airport.
A rule on tarmac delays and flight diversions were also instituted by the Civil Aeronautics Board. Now, airlines are required to deplane passengers after two hours of tarmac delay.
It also added new seats at Naia Terminal 3; deployed high-speed wireless Internet access at major transport hubs, including airports; opened a well-wisher’s area in Naia Terminal; allowed regular taxicabs to pick up passengers from the airpots; and partnered with airline companies to better manage the toilets at the complex.
Close coordination, stricter rule implementation
THE transportation department also aims to unify all cities in Metro Manila to address the almost-round-the-clock bottleneck on major streets and secondary routes.
Tugade initiated dialogs with city mayors and traffic managers, and agreed to the integration of a single enforcement system under on chain of command: the Interagency Council on Traffic.
So far, the traffic council agreed on the enforcement of an extended number coding hours and the removal of window hours in all radial and circumferential roads in Metro Manila.
It has also developed uniform traffic fines and penalties, while deploying local enforcers to do the task.
Latest data from the agency showed that it has issued 202,938 traffic citation tickets all over the country, where 31,388 were from Metro Manila. It has, likewise, towed 6,883 illegally parked vehicles, impounded 401 colorum vehicles and cleared 5,738 illegal vendors.
To mitigate last year’s “worst traffic on Earth,” the agency also opened up government properties, such as Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo and the Veterans Memorial Medical Center compound, both in Quezon City, to help decongest traffic on major roads.
The Duterte administration was also successful in deploying more premium airport shuttle buses and in adding more point-to-point bus services.
Archipelagic nature
LIKEWISE, the agency started on improving the maritime sector in the Philippines, starting with the revival of the Pasig River Ferry. Ports in the Visayas and Mindanao, particularly Iloilo and General Santos, are now being modernized and are set for completion soon.
The port regulator has also signed several agreements for the development of ports in the Philippines. One such agreement was signed with publicly listed company International Container Terminal Services Inc. just recently. It has also completed the survey of existing roll-on, roll-off (Ro-Ro) facilities in the Philippines, determining needed improvements to accommodate new generation vessels.
The Road Roll-on Roll-off Transport System (RRTS) is a network of terminals linked by Ro-Ro vessels from Batangas port and on any point of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. It is designed to improve and promote the interisland sea transportation in the country.
The four highways under the RRTS are the Western Nautical Highway, the Central Nautical Highway, the Pan Philippine Highway and the Eastern Nautical Highway.
Marina said the Western Nautical and Pan Philippine highways are the two most successful routes under the said transport system.
There are 19 operators of Ro-Ro services in the Western Nautical Highway, with 48 ships plying the following routes: Batangas City to Calapan, Oriental Mindoro (17), Roxas, Oriental Mindoro, to Caticlan, Malay, Aklan (seven), Dumanggas, Iloilo to Bacolod, Negros Occidental (17) and Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, to Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte (seven).
The Pan Philippine Highway, on the other hand, has eight operators with 17 ships on the following routes: Matnog, Sorsogon, to Allen, Northern Samar (12), and Liloan, Southern Leyte, to Lipata, Surigao del Norte (five).
For the Central Nautical Highway, 15 operators offer services with 23 vessels. The routes are as follows: Cawayan, Masbate, to Bogo, Cebu (one); Cebu City to Tubigon, Bohol (15); Jagna, Bohol, to Balbagon, Mambajao, Camiguin (one); and Benoni, Mahinog, Camiguin, to Balingoan, Misamis Oriental (six).
The Eastern Nautical Highway of the RRTS is the most unsuccessful or unproductive route because to date, no ship is operating there since certain portions of the Eastern Nautical Highway overlap with the Central Nautical and Pan Philippine Highway, particularly those in Masbate and Surigao City.
Currently, there are 27 seaports in the Philippines—operated by both the government and the private sector.
The development of such, according to Transportation Undersecretary Felipe A. Judan, will help the Philippines be connected to the rest of the Asean.
More trains, less headways
RAIL transport has also improved during the first six months of the Duterte administration. The Metro Rail Transit (MRT), in particular, now hits, on certain days, 22 operating trains per hour, at an average speed of 50 kilometers per hour (kph) from 40 kph.
With the added capacity comes the lesser headway. On the average, waiting for the next train to come is roughly four minutes nowadays. Last year it operated with just 13 trains per hour.
The transportation department has also started the procurement of an onboard signalling system for the new
Chinese trains.
Aside from all these, the transport agency was able to augment the capacity of the Philippine National Railways (PNR). From only five trains in June, the system now runs with seven trains a day.
A pilot program for the reintroduction of the morning and night services to Calamba, Laguna, was also implemented.
Future proofing
“IN the history of infrastructure, we are a laggard. We also have a history of projects not finished. So our vision is to finish what we have started,” Mercado said.
She added: “We are working on our infrastructure projects, and we are planning on the bigger scale to decongest
and promote interconnectivity for the whole country.”
First on the list is to build railways.
This program involves billions of pesos in investments stretched beyond the term of the newly elected president.
This includes the construction of the East-West Line, which will run from Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City to Quezon Boulevard in Quiapo, Manila; a railway that will run from the City of Malolos in Bulacan to Clark Field in Pampanga, another one from Solis, Tondo, Manila, to Los Baños City in Laguna, and the Mindanao Railway, among others.
In Mindanao alone, there are about 1,533 kilometers worth of rails that need to be developed. The dream for Mindanao is to have a railway line that will run from Cagayan de Oro to Davao City.
It will be done in three phases—divided into so-called corridors. Corridor 1 will be from Cagayan de Oro to Butuan. The second corridor will run from Butuan to Davao City. While the third corridor will be the loop to Cagayan de Oro from Davao.
Next is to build new airports and modernize existing ones.
The government is entertaining proposals from the private sector —there are two to date—for the construction of a Naia replacement, while bidding out several projects for regional air hubs.
Santos said the government is also planning to modernize Clark to accommodate flights of full-service airlines, like Philippine Airlines, while constructing a railway that will connect Metro Manila to the area.
Interisland connectivity via Philippine waters will also be promoted next year. The vision is to upgrade and expand the existing ferry routes in the coming months.
“A lot of the ideas and projects that are going to be rolled out are not unique and are not new. A lot of them are from our past administrations,” she admitted. “What we are doing is to push ourselves to work to get things done.”
Image credits: Roy Domingo
1 comment
Wow. With the 2017 Budget signed, sealed and delivered. We expect the Infra projects to start construction in the 1Q of 2017.