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BY JOHNNY NOVERA
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WE WISH that Metro Manila will be convinced that the only solution to their traffic woes is business dispersal.
When Retired General Danny Lim assumed office in September last year as chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), we wrote a column on Oct. 3, 2017 that offered a solution to Metro Manila’s traffic problems.
We invited Chairman Lim to schedule a visit here and see the areas for business expansion in Iloilo. As MMDA chairman he can encourage Metro Manila businesses to move to the province along the business dispersal program of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo which is now being continued by incumbent President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Metro Manila’s worsening traffic problem is costing P3 billion a day in losses to the government, according to a study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency or JICA.
Manila Standard columnist Emil P. Jurado has pointed out the problems four years ago when MMDA was chaired by Francis Tolentino. The worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila is caused by its big population of 13 million that increases to 15 million during the day because of people who come to work or visit in Metro Manila.
Government has adopted several programs to solve Metro Manila’s traffic problem but to no avail. There was Metro Manila’s adjusted mall hours, number coding for vehicles, activated ferry service at the Pasig River, enforced truck bans, suspended road re-blocking and repairs on certain places and hours, and increased traffic workers’ visibility, but all of them merely served as palliatives and did not lick the traffic congestion problem up to now.
The only solution to Metro Manila’s traffic problem is to spread out business or economic development to the provinces.
We will have the Dinagyang Festival on the fourth week of this month and wish that MMDA chairman General Danilo Lim can visit Iloilo for the festival and at the same time actually see for himself what Iloilo can offer for the provincial expansion of Metro Manila businesses.
He will see our wide areas for new locations of businesses and that, even if tagged as allegedly “shabulized”, new investments in Iloilo continue to expand. (For comments or re-actions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com/PN)
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