MMDA, malls agree to retain traffic measures

Traffic measures that were implemented in Metro Manila supposedly just for holiday season will now remain in force all year round.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and shopping mall operators particularly on Edsa have agreed to retain the “no-weekday sale” policy as well as the limited hours for product deliveries.

MMDA General Manager Tim Orbos said the mall operators in a meeting on Friday acknowledged that these measures helped ease traffic congestion on Edsa and connecting roads during the last Christmas season, and that they had no adverse effects on their business.

The MMDA earlier noted that vehicle speed tends to slow down to just five kilometers per hour on Edsa, where 16 malls are located, whenever there is a sale.

Also being extended for the entire year is the no-daytime delivery rule, wherein trucks and vans servicing the malls can do so only from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Meanwhile, the MMDA is also studying whether the malls could use a Pasig City-based waste conversion facility to help them dispose of their daily trash. Orbos said the facility, which began operations in 2015, can process 600 tons of trash a day and convert them into fuel.—DEXTER CABALZA