MMDA, mayors to enforce 5-year traffic plan

MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the metropolis’ 17 mayors and concerned national government agencies have committed to enforce a five-year plan to mitigate vehicle congestion in Metro Manila’s major roads.

In a statement yesterday, the MMDA said the Comprehensive Traffic Management Plan (CTMP) for Metro Manila, to be funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), “covers strategies to address traffic management issues” in the metropolis, seen to be a hindrance to the economy’s continued improvement.

The “most urgent” of these strategies would be to “complete the improvement of 42 traffic bottlenecks the CTMP project has identified and the signal systems.”

The five-year-plan also aims to put into action the following ideas: “further improve traffic corridors; enhance the intelligent transportation system (ITS); strengthen traffic regulations, enforcement and road safety; promote active transportation and develop a comprehensive traffic management database.”

It also recommended that each Metro Manila local government unit  create its respective CTMP to help “strengthen the transportation network” in the region, while the MMDA was advised to “strengthen its planning capacities in traffic management and its coordination with and among related organizations.”

MMDA acting chairman Romando Artes said the JICA-funded CTMP project was timely since Metro Manila has been receiving more and more visitors with more economic opportunities present in the region, which “has led to an increase in traffic congestion.”

“As the project ends, the next step is to implement the plan. Continuous coordination, role-sharing, funding, monitoring and evaluation – these are critical matters that must be addressed,” he said.

Meanwhile, JICA will support the government’s efforts to address heavy traffic “by sharing Japan’s experiences in traffic management, particularly in ITS, and in private-public partnerships,” according to JICA’s Philippine chief representative Takema Sakamoto.