EDITORIAL - Deterrent to economic growth

Studies have shown that traffic jams cost the country billions in economic losses every year. And those studies were conducted before the current horrendous gridlocks all over Metro Manila and neighboring areas.

The government did warn that traffic is expected to worsen this year as several road improvements and other infrastructure projects get underway simultaneously all over Metro Manila. Many of the projects are meant to be completed in time for the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which the country is hosting next year.

Occurring together with the public works projects, however, are the disorganized efforts to improve traffic plus the chaos in Manila’s ports. These days travel time in the streets of Metro Manila can be three times longer than usual, and this is during sunny days. With a heavy downpour and flash floods, the nation’s premier region becomes paralyzed.

You don’t need exhaustive research to deduce that such massive gridlocks can hold back economic growth. The Japan International Cooperation Agency estimated that in 2012, the Philippines suffered P2.4 billion in economic losses every day due to traffic jams. By 2030, the figure could jump to P6 billion a day, according to JICA.

The estimated losses are based not only on fuel and vehicle maintenance costs but also on lost productivity as well as the impact on climate change and health by higher greenhouse gas emissions while stuck in traffic.

In 2012, a report of the National Center for Transportation Studies placed economic losses from traffic jams at P137.5 billion a year. That’s milder than the JICA figures but no less worrisome. Last year a multisectoral group advocating road discipline observed that traffic jams have an even greater economic impact than corruption.

Traffic woes have also worsened in recent years. The gridlocks were untangled through a coordinated effort among concerned national government agencies and the local executives of Metro Manila. An individual was designated as coordinator.

The problem, arising from too many vehicles on a road network that has barely expanded in the past decades, obviously calls for long-term responses and major investment in modern transportation.  While those projects wait to move out of the drawing board, however, efficient traffic management is needed, with someone clearly in charge.