DOTr pursues various transpo projects to tackle PH traffic woes

The DOTr has assured that it will conduct a review on the operations of PITX to address concerns on the lack of available transport to ferry passengers to and from the terminal. (Photo: Department of Transportation – DOTr Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has implemented various transportation projects this year aimed at ensuring ease of travel among commuters and improving the traffic situation in the country.

These projects are part of the “Build, Build, Build” program of the Duterte administration, which aims to build vital infrastructures seeking to provide connectivity in various areas of the country to promote economic growth and decongest Metro Manila.

In November 5, the agency inaugurated the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX), which is the first integrated and multi-modal terminal in the southwestern part of Metro Manila.

The facility will serve as transfer point between provincial buses of Cavite and Batangas, as well as in-city modes of transportation.

It will also provide interconnectivity between different transport modes and services that will ensure efficient and seamless travel for commuters.

Located along the Coastal Road, the PITX is expected to reduce the number of provincial buses plying Metro Manila, specifically on Taft Avenue-Pasay and Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (Edsa).

“So, I am impressed, I am proud na ginawa nila itong magandang (that they built this beautiful) structure. And it will serve the Filipino and that is what’s very important to me,” President Rodrigo Duterte said when he graced the inauguration rites.

“As the first integrated and multi-modal terminal in the southwestern part of Metro Manila, PITX is a landmark project — a ‘landport’ that feels and functions like an airport,” he added.

PITX will have world-class facilities like those of an airport such as departure and arrival areas and baggage handling facilities that can accommodate over 100,000 passengers per day.

It also has automated ticketing and bus monitoring systems and multiple terminals for bus, jeepney, UV express, taxis and transport network services.

Buses coming from provinces near Metro Manila must pass through the terminal to pick up and drop off passengers.

“All buses will utilize PITX,” DOTr officer-in-charge Undersecretary for Road Transport Mark de Leon said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

However, the DOTr has issued Department Order 2018-025, which converted the franchises of buses in selected areas in the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna into city operations not to end their routes at PITX and directly traverse through Metro Manila.

These buses operate along commuter routes within the Greater Manila Area which have high passenger demand.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has likewise allowed 60 additional buses traversing the following routes: PITX to Ayala via Buendia in Makati City; PITX to NAIA Airport Loop; PITX to Bonifacio Global City in Taguig and PITX to Plaza Lawton in Manila to address passenger demand for transportation going to Metro Manila.

It has also issued special permits to 500 UV Express units with routes from Paliparan to PITX via Molino and Bacoor to PITX via Molino as well as 40 jeepney units with routes from Paliparan to PITX via Molino and Dasmarinas to PITX via Aguinaldo Highway.

The DOTr has assured that it will conduct a review on the operations of PITX to address concerns on the lack of available transport to ferry passengers to and from the terminal.

More terminals

Meanwhile, the department has conducted last January the groundbreaking of the Taguig Integrated Terminal Exchange (ITX) which is expected to ease traffic congestion in Edsa.

Taguig ITX is projected to accommodate 4,000 buses and 160,000 passengers per day. It will likewise feature a pedestrian walkway connecting to the PNR FTI station and the proposed Mega Manila subway system.

The DOTr is also eyeing to construct the North Integrated Terminal Exchange in Bocaue, Bulacan which will serve as a stop for buses coming from the provinces along the northern part of Metro Manila.

The department is likewise pushing for the implementation of an integrated transport system (ITS) to address the traffic congestion in Metro Cebu.

The system will include various transportation modes such as a bus rapid transit system; point to point bus system; a monorail in Lapu-Lapu City, and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) lines from Carcar to Danao and the Mandaue to Airport Line.

“The ITS was developed after due consideration of Metro Cebu’s road profile, and the fast-growing need of efficient mass transport systems in bigger, interconnected cities. Habang papaunlad ang ating mga lungsod ay kailangan din nating tugunan ang pangangailangan para sa mas episyente na pampublikong transportasyon (As our cities progress, we need to address the need for an efficient public transportation),” Tugade said in a statement last July.

Under the transport plan, a Common Station is being considered in two areas: a coastal district and a city center.

Passengers will be ushered to an interlink terminal where connecting transit systems of all the components (bus-to-LRT, bus-to-BRT, or BRT-to-LRT) are located.

The DOTr aims to achieve partial operability of the multi-modal transport system within the next one and a half to two years.

“Once implemented, Cebu will become beautiful and more livable. The ITS will encourage interoperability and interconnectivity of land, air, and sea transportation,” according to Tugade.

MRT rehab, other railway projects

A major achievement for the railway sector this year is the signing of the PHP18-billion loan agreement between the Philippines and Japan for the rehabilitation of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) last November 8.

The loan agreement covers the repair and maintenance of the MRT-3’s electromechanical components, power supply, rail tracks, and depot equipment and the overhaul of its 72 light rail vehicles.

Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will take over the rehabilitation and maintenance of MRT-3. The consortium signed and built the railway system from 1998 to 2000 and maintained the system from 2000 to 2012.

“Transition is already ongoing up to December; the full mobilization will be by January,” DOTr Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan said in an earlier interview to the PNA.

The upgrade of the MRT-3 will take about 43 months, with the first 26 months focused on the rehabilitation of the entire system.

Meanwhile, the MRT has deployed the initial set of trains that were purchased from Chinese firm CRRC Dalian.

The first train set which consists of three cars was deployed to the MRT line last October while another train set was deployed this December.

A total of 48 Dalian light rail vehicles were delivered to the country in 2016 but were not deployed to the MRT line due to compatibility issues. Supplier CCRC Dalian eventually agreed to absorb the costs for the adjustments of the trains.

The Dalian trains must first undergo the 1,000-kilometer test run for 150 hours before these are deployed during peak hours of the MRT-3’s operations, according to the DOTr.

Unloading incidents in the railway system have declined to 56 from January to November this year compared to 440 and 562 for the same period in 2017 and 2016, respectively.

The MRT management attributed this to the ongoing maintenance works on the MRT and the delivery of vital spare parts.

The MRT-3 currently runs an average of 15 trains daily with headway time of seven minutes serving around 300,000 passengers.

The DOTr has likewise said that the construction for the Metro Manila Subway is slated to begin next year and have its partial operability by 2022.

The subway system aims to have partial operations in three stations: North Avenue, Mindanao Avenue, and Tandang Sora with its full operations in 2025.

Last March, the Philippine and Japanese governments signed a loan agreement for the subway project with the initial tranche amounting to 104.53 billion yen or roughly PHP49.45 billion.

The first phase of the 25-km underground railway, which has an estimated cost of PHP356.96 billion, will have a total of 14 stations from Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Parañaque City.

The succeeding phases will involve extending the subway system to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan and Dasmariñas, Cavite.

The department has also awarded the project management consultancy contract for the Philippine National Railways (PNR) South Rail Project to the China Railway Design Corp. (CRDC) and Guangzhou Wanan Construction Supervision Corp. (WACC) last November 17.

The railway project would be financed through the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) from the government of China.

The CRDC-WACC Consortium will conduct all pre-construction surveys (topographic, geotechnical, hydrological, parcellary, environmental, etc.), preparation of designs for bidding, preparation of bidding documents, bidding assistance, construction supervision, and defects liability period (warranty) supervision.

The 639-kilometer PNR Bicol Project covering Manila to Matnog town in Sorsogon is expected to be partially operational by 2022.

Furthermore, the Philippines and Japan have signed an exchange of notes over the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) Extension Project last November.

The NSCR Extension Project will be financed through an ODA loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Asian Development Bank.

The railway project which has a total cost of PHP 777.75 billion, will integrate the PNR Clark Phase 1 from Tutuban to Malolos, PNR Clark Phase 2 from Malolos to Clark International Airport and from PNR Solis to Calamba. It will consist of 36 stations and a double-track elevated railway system that will connect the National Capital Region, Central Luzon and Calabarzon; and enable seamless transfer of passengers with the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1), LRT-2, the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) and the Mega Manila Subway.

Dev’t of regional airports

The DOTr is also pursuing the development of airports outside Metro Manila to decongest NAIA, which has recorded around 42 million passengers — exceeding its capacity of just 31 million passengers.

The department is eyeing to utilize Clark International Airport as an alternative gateway to the country.

Its new passenger terminal building which broke ground on December last year was awarded to the consortium of Megawide and GMR Infrastructure.

The new terminal is expected to accommodate up to 8 million passengers per year.

Meanwhile, a consortium between Singapore’s Changi Airport and local conglomerates JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Filinvest Development Corp will likely secure the operations and maintenance of Clark Airport, according to Tugade.

The bidder, known as North Luzon Airport Consortium, emerged as the sole qualified group after the only other challenger, dubbed X-Droid Consortium, was disqualified during the bidding which was conducted last November.

The consortium that will bag the O&M contract shall manage and operate Clark airport’s existing terminal and the New Terminal Building according to the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) who is in charge of the implementation of the project.

The BCDA is targeting to award the project, a so-called hybrid Public Private Partnership project with a 25-year concession.

The DOTr is also seen to award two key airport projects in Bulacan and Manila by early 2019.

These projects namely San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) P800-billion international airport in Bulacan province and NAIA Consortium’s PHP102-billion offer to modernize and operate NAIA had yet to be cleared by the Investment Coordination Committee of the NEDA (NEDA-ICC), according to the department.

The approval of the NEDA-ICC will be followed by the approval of the NEDA Board, which is chaired by President Duterte. As unsolicited proposals, the final step is a bidding process known as Swiss Challenge, which requires at least 60 days.

NAIA Consortium and SMC were awarded the original proponent status for their respective projects.

NAIA Consortium’s members are Ayala Corp., Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Alliance Global Group Inc., Asia Emerging Dragon, Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Its technical partner is Changi Airports International.

The consortium’s proposal to rehabilitate NAIA involves the expansion and interconnection of the existing NAIA terminals, upgrade of airside facilities,
development of commercial facilities to ensure efficient airline and airport operations, enhancing passenger comfort and experience, and elevating the status of NAIA as the country’s premier international gateway.

On the other hand, SMC is planning a brand-new airport in Bulakan, Bulacan that will have as many as six parallel runways and a capacity of over 100 million passengers yearly.

Currently, there are 13 domestic airports and 12 international airports across the country that are either completed or have ongoing improvements and upgrades, according to the DOTr.

The department has also completed the night-rating of 20 out of 42 airports, making them capable of handling nighttime flights.

Maritime industry dev’t program

The DOTr, together with the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) and the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), reopened the Davao to Manila passenger shipping route last October 28.

The shipping route is envisioned to enhance connectivity and mobility between Luzon and Mindanao, providing people more travel options and lowering the prices of goods and commodities through the access of freight containers traveling from Davao to Manila and vice versa.

The MARINA has completed the formulation of its projects to be implemented under the 10-year Maritime Industry Development Program (MIDP), which aims to establish a safe and modernized maritime sector in the country.

The priority programs to be implemented under the MIDP are the upgrading of domestic shipping in support of the nautical highway development; development of shipping services for maritime tourism; development of Coastal and Inland Waterways Transport (CIWT) system; strengthening of safety standards of Philippine Registered Fishing Vessels; development of global maritime hub; enhancement of maritime safety in the Philippines; modernization of maritime security in the Philippines, and the establishment of a maritime innovation and knowledge center.

The 10-year MIDP seeks to achieve a nationally integrated and globally competitive maritime industry through developing and supporting an organizational culture and practice of leading in maritime education, innovation, technology, and sustainability.

A major initiative being pursued under the MIDP is the modernization of domestic ships such as turning wooden-hulled motor bancas into either steel, aluminum, or fiberglass boats. It also involves strengthening of the capability of local shipyards and promoting the development of locally-made ships.