Angara open to increase MMDA’s subsidy for Pasig River ferry operation

Pasig River ferry service. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Sonny Angara is willing to increase the subsidy given to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) for the operation of the Pasig River ferry service, saying it can ease the “terrible congestion” in Metro Manila roads.

Angara, chair of the Senate finance committee, highlighted the need “to tap the full potential of the Pasig River as a nautical road” but stressed the first step to that is by making it “financially buoyant.”

“I think the first order of business is to make the ferry system financially buoyant again,” Angara said Thursday in a statement.

“We are open to increasing the subsidy if the MMDA can submit a  program on where the additional subsidy would be spent,” he added.

Angara said next year’s proposed P74 million national government subsidy to the MMDA for running a ferry on parts of the river’s original 15-kilometer (km) service route “is clearly not enough.”

“Yang 74 million pesos na proposed subsidy for 2020, may nakapagsabi na limang kilometro lang ‘yan ng asphalt overlay sa isang lane ng EDSA,” Angara said.

Angara also pointed out the lack of attention in optimizing “a maritime highway that is wider than EDSA” considering Metro Manila’s traffic situation.

But to revive the service, Angara said a “master plan with yearly expansion, funding and performance targets” is required, but assured “we can pursue the modernization in annual installments.”

About P2.65 billion would be needed for Pasig River ferry’s 20 new 100-passenger vessels, rehabilitation of 10 passenger terminals and annual river dredging, the Department of Transporation (DOTr) said in August 2016. /muf