Metro Manila residents will get some reprieve from traffic jams toward the end of the year following the completion of major road projects, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said on Wednesday.
Among the road projects that may be completed this year are bypass roads like C-3 and Harbor Link Road, which provide a direct link between the Port Area and the North Luzon Expressway.
“I think later this year or next year there will be palpable relief among commuters and motorists,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia told reporters in a news briefing on Wednesday.
Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar also disclosed that 12 additional bridges crossing Pasig River will be constructed starting this year.
Villar said Filipino commuters and motorists can expect the overall traffic situation to improve because the Duterte administration considers solving traffic congestion as its top priority. “The President has a plan, and it is being implemented to significantly reduce traffic not just in Metro Manila but across the country,” Villar said. “The plan is in place and, in the succeeding years, people should expect major improvements in the traffic situation.”
The efforts of the national government to implement more projects include the approval of at least two more Japanese-funded projects this year. These include the P134-billion Philippine National Railway South Commuter Line (Tutuban to Los Baños) and the P230-billion Manila Metro Line 9 (Mega Manila Subway Project-Phase 1), according to Pernia.
The Neda chief also said the Japanese government is still the Philippines’s largest source of official development assistance, with a share of 38.57 percent, or $4.83 billion, as of September 2017. Japan’s ODA loans make up 45.88 percent, or $4.688 billion, of the Philippine government’s total loans portfolio.
In 2017 alone, the Neda Board has approved five major infrastructure projects to be implemented with Japanese support, with a total investment cost of about P700 billion.
These include the Arterial Road Bypass Project Phase III, as well as three major railway projects and a flood-management project. Several more projects will be processed this year.