Senate probe sought into ‘worsening traffic mess’ in PH

Edsa-Guadalupe. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ralph Recto now wants the  Senate to step into the “worsening traffic mess” in the country and scrutinize the “soundness” of the government’s solution to the problem.

Recto filed Senate Resolution No. 5, directing the committee on public services to inquire into the supposed comprehensive traffic program of the government aimed at loosening the gridlocks in major urban centers.

“The Senate inquiry would determine if such traffic management plan would actually ease congestion in major urban centers and speed up the safe and efficient movement of people and goods,” he said  in a statement  on Thursday.

Recto said the “monstrous traffic jams” have reached critical level that precious man-hours and resources were being wasted every minute that the metropolis stood still because of logjams.

He pointed out earlier reports that the Philippines was losing about $3.6 billion or P153 billion a year because of traffic congestion, particularly in Metro Manila.

Of the $3.6 billion, $1 billion is reportedly lost in wasted gasoline, electricity, man-hours and hiring of traffic aides, while the remaining $2.6 billion represents losses from reduced sales and investment disincentives.

Recto said the recurrence of traffic gridlocks in Metro Manila and even in other major cities were transforming “our streets into chaos, making the movement of people and goods constricted, inefficient and unsafe.”

“The traffic bottlenecks are becoming a travel bane that adversely impact on the economy and also on the general well-being of Filipinos,” he pointed out.

To address the problem,  the senator said, the government should draft a traffic decongestion roadmap that would outline a comprehensive solution to the traffic mess at least until 2016.

Recto said the traffic solution should also factor in the increase in numbers of vehicles on the road, the kilometers of new roads and bridges that were built and the burgeoning population.

“There is now one motor vehicle for every 14 Filipinos with 7 million roaring machines cramming our streets. And every hour, about one kilometer of road must be built or repaved to accommodate the 47 new vehicles, which are registered during the same hour,” he said.

The inquiry, he said,  should also focus on “the capacity of concerned agencies to execute the roadmap and devise ways for its successful implementation and ensure the efficient, safe and fast transport of people and products from one destination to another.”

“Without a sound traffic management plan, major roads such as EDSA would become giant parking lot where not a single machine and flesh would move,” Recto further said.