MMDA: Removing Anda Circle won't decongest Port Area traffic

MANILA, Philippines - Removing the historic Anda Circle in Manila’s Port Area as planned by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will not necessarily mean a solution to the crippling traffic congestion in the area, an official of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said Thursday.

According to Engineer Noemi Recio, head of the MMDA’s Traffic Engineering Center, removing the rotunda and the monument erected in honor of colonial Spanish Governor General Simon de Anda, and placing an intersection with traffic signals in its place will only make it safer for motorists.

“It will be safe for motorists as there will be traffic control but it will not guarantee that traffic congestion will be solved,” said Recio.

Recio added that even if the rotunda is removed and an intersection equipped with traffic signals is put-up by the DPWH, traffic in the Port Area will most likely still be crawling because of the sheer volume of trucks leaving and entering the Port of Manila and because of an ongoing road project by the 

DPWH along Bonifacio Drive which is now occupying one lane.

The DPWH earlier said it is finalizing plans to remove the Anda monument and rotunda – which is located at the junction of Bonifacio Drive and Andres Soriano Avenue (formerly Calle Aduana) - and relocate it elsewhere. 

Simon de Anda was Spanish governor of the Philippines from 1762 to 1764 and was honored for his resistance to the British invasion of Manila in 1762.

According to DPWH Undersecretary Raul Asis, the Anda Circle will be removed to make way for the installation of traffic signal lights in the area, turning it into an ordinary intersection. The DPWH also earlier said it would take at least two weeks to remove and relocate the Anda monument.

Asis said the DPWH is confident that converting Anda Circle into an intersection would improve the flow of vehicular traffic in the Port Area.

Asis explained that if the rotunda is removed, motorists would just have to go straight to the direction they are heading or could just proceed to the left side of the area.