Photo credit: DOTr

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) was thrust into the limelight again following two events which took last month.

First, there was a monstrous traffic jam in several Metro Manila thoroughfares leading to the North Luzon Expressway as thousands trooped to the Philippine Arena in Santa Maria, Bulacan for a sold-out concert.

Second, media bannered a report by TomTom International BV, a location technology company, which placed the National Capital Region at the top of the list of 387 cities worldwide with the worst traffic situation.

The successive developments appear to have painted the picture of a public that is already exasperated with the current situation. This apparently led DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista to come out and issue a statement vowing to come up with “creative and lasting solutions” to this age-old headache.

The soft-spoken Bautista added that his department “will expedite road projects to help alleviate traffic conditions”.

We can only commiserate with Bautista even as we are constrained to caution him against creating unreasonable expectations.

It is clear to all that the solution to the traffic woes of Metro Manila is not in the hands of the DOTr alone. While Bautista’s humble posture of putting himself on the firing line is laudable, he should not unnecessarily shield other parties who are responsible for the huge traffic mess.

For example, we all know that the on-going road projects Bautista is referring to do not fall under his areas of responsibility. Road projects are under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and local governments.

They are usually implemented by private contractors. If the delays in these projects and their mess they create in our streets are the problem, the real implementors should admit their shortcomings and should make the appropriate commitment to look for lasting solutions. Not Bautista alone.

To be fair to the DOTr, Bautista’s department does have one of the solutions to the traffic woes. Just one – not all of the three elements of lasting solutions, namely, engineering, enforcement and education.

The DOTr has some of the best engineering solutions and these have been announced recently to media and the public.

These include the DOTr’s plans to construct additional modern rail transportation means within the NCR and along the routes leading to and passing through it.

We saw his recent statement that “rail transportation” is the best solution. We agree, and so do many of our countrymen and exasperate Metro Manilans do.

For some reason, rail transportation was not given primary attention in the past. This is why news that major rail projects, such as the DOTr’s North South Commuter Railway (NSCR) project was received with much enthusiasm when its kick-off was announced last year.

The project, jointly funded by JICA and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is a 147-kilometer modern rail system which will connect Clark and Calamba City in Laguna. The NSCR will pass through Metro Manila and is expected to cut travel time by more than half.

The NSCR project will certainly help improve commuters’ travel experience and will provide motorists in Metro Manila more transportation options.

The NSCR will have 36 stations and will include four types of services: a regular commuter service, a commuter express line with limited stops, an airport express service to the Clark International Airport.

The NSCR shall be linked to the Metro Manila Subway. The 33.1km-long subway being constructed in Metro Manila will be from Valenzuela to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) connecting 17 stations and a depot. It will be the first mass underground transport system in the Philippines.

Finally, it looks like Metro Manilans, and commuters from the northof the NCR heading up south, will have a way of getting to their destination fast and comfortably.

This project is one good “engineering” solution.

We hope that other government agencies will attend to the other two requirements to solve traffic woes: enforcement and education.

There is one more problem and here, Bautista and the DOTr will need help.

Based on media briefings done by the NSCR project teams, we learned that the NSCR will largely use the existing line of the Philippine National Railways (PNR).

Now, this poses a major hurdle to the on-time completion of the NSCR. That PNR railway line going north to soith is lined by huge informal settler communities. We were told by reliable sources that it will be difficult for the private contractors to begin construction unless the areas are cleared and the right-of-way (ROW) handed over to them.

If the DOTr does not meet the deadline for delivering the ROWs, the government may face the risk of losing billions of pesos due to significant delays in implementing the NSCR project and payments to contractors.

The DOTr needs assistance here, first, from other government agencies; and, second, from the informal settlers themselves. We understand that the completion of the right-of-way requirements is responsibility of the DOTr together with local governments. We hope these two are doing their role with a sense of urgency.

Crucial here will be the cooperation of the informal settler communities themselves.

According to the DOTr, proper resettlement areas have already been prepared for families who will have to vacate the structures they built along the sides of the railroad tracks. As soon as they vacate, construction can commence.

That brings us to a third essential element in the solution to our traffic woes. It is called “human behavior”. The lasting solution requires one form of such behavior – cooperation or collaboration.

Parties concerned should not pose stumbling blocks to the engineering solutions. Instead, we hope they will extend their all-out support to engineering projects like the NSCR.

The lasting solutions are not in the DOTr’s hands alone. The department needs help.

We can all pitch in.