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BY JOHNNY NOVERA
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Tuesday, October 3, 2017
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THERE is one major problem long identified with Metro Manila but the authorities refuse to recognize or resolve it. All they do is appoint a new chairman for the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from time to time.
Yes, leadership in MMDA has changed again but the traffic congestion problem in Metro Manila has remained chaotic if not worsened. Now the new MMDA chair is retired General Danny Lim who was formerly with the Bureau of Customs.
At least, the present MMDA chair is humble enough to admit that “it is really very hard to find a solution to the traffic problem with vehicles on the streets multiplying in great numbers but the roads are not.”
Vehicle sales hit a record 420,000 units last year and 65 percent of them found their way in Metro Manila.
Metro Manila’s greatest problem is its traffic gridlock at all hours of the day and night. A study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency or JICA estimated that traffic congestion in Metro Manila is costing the government P3 billion a day in losses.
Chairman Lim has recognized the problem of hundreds of thousands of people that go to work and to school every morning in Metro Manila then go home every afternoon of the same day. Unlike previous MMDA heads, he said he is ready to listen and consider proposals from other people on this or other Metro Manila problems.
Well, we believe that Iloilo City has exactly the solution to Metro Manila’s problems. We wish Chairman Lim can read this piece or, if not, we hope someone from Metro Manila who reads this will be kind enough to bring the idea to his attention.
During the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (PGMA), the government adopted the office dispersal idea or the transfer of major government departments to the provinces. Unfortunately, implementation was not continued with the change of administration under a new President who turned out to be not her admirer.
Now with PDu30 who is from Mindanao, we understand that the dispersal program of government offices to other parts of the country will be pursued again. Will the federalism concept that the present administration is introducing to change our government achieve this purpose?
Meanwhile, if Chairman Danny Lim can schedule a visit to Iloilo and see for himself the expansion of our city, especially along our new Circumferential Road, perhaps he can use the influence of his office to encourage Metro Manila businesses to move their head offices to Iloilo along the program once adopted by PGMA.
With the business dispersal program revived, we guarantee that the traffic problem of Metro Manila will be resolved, otherwise General Lim will remain frustrated in his job as MMDA chair like all his predecessors. (For comments or re-actions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com)/PN
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