A solution to Makati’s traffic woes

Anyone who has experienced rush hour in Makati’s nooks and crannies — when one get’s stuck for hours on end in different streets — will be happy to know that an intra-city railway will soon help decongest the city’s roads.

Traffic planning in Makati isn’t hopeless. In fact, the city is like a ghost town on weekends. The situation just gets so bad during rush hours because the crowd swells during the work week.

IRC Properties Inc., a listed property company and its international consortium partners, has offered a solution to the problem, proposing a $3.7 billion project to provide an intra-city rail transport system in Makati.

Under its proposal, the IRC-led consortium will construct an 11-kilometer subway system with up to 10 stations that will connect key points in Makati’s two districts, with no cash out from the city government.

Imagine being able to go around the busy business district without walking from one meeting to another under a drizzling morning or scorching afternoon.

No less than Mayor Abby Binay is excited about the project, touting it as something unlike any other in the country.

“Since transportation and congestion are key concerns of our city, I would like to mention one of our most ambitious PPP projects to date — something we have never seen nor done by any other city in the Philippines,” Mayor Abby said during the city’s 348th anniversary last May.

 “Through the mass transport system, Makati will finally have a fast and efficient transport system. It will not only help move people quicker, it will help decongest our city streets,” she said.

Indeed, IRC’s proposal is aligned with the national government’s aggressive infrastructure program as well as Makati’s goal to be a digital city.

This, Mayor Abby said, is about the city’s plan of creating a digital community of Makati citizens or Makatizens as it connects its constituent through technology.

IRC’s transport project complements this vision.

Under the plan, the proposed subway will complement the mass transport projects of the national government as it would be interconnected to the MRT, the proposed Metro Manila Mega Subway and the Pasig River ferry.

It’s a commuters’ dream come true. But wait, even businessmen in Makati will benefit from the project. It’s about time we have a modern transportation system like in other countries such as in bustling New York and London. Imagine the time, fuel, and parking costs we can save.

Last month, IRC was granted original proponent status for the project and is now ready to proceed with the Swiss challenge process.

The listed property company is serious with the landmark project, recently applying to increase its authorized capital to P19.5-billion from P1.5-billion.

Several companies have already indicated their intention to be part of the IRC consortium including Chinese companies and other foreign firms.

Now, if only the rest of the country can have similar modern mass transport projects that Filipinos long deserve.  It is only when this happens that traffic across the overly populated Metro Manila will finally ease.

In any case, we all have to start somewhere and the city of Makati is going in the right direction by giving the greenlight for the project.

Power project proposals gathering dust

I wonder why President Duterte did not mention any developments in the power sector during his State of the Nation Address.

Are there no new developments? Are there no new projects? In 2016, he said the Philippines needed more sources of electricity and that the government should see power generation projects through.

But applications at the Energy Regulatory Commission have languished. Aside from the usual bureaucratic delays, the Office of the Ombudsman also twice ordered the suspension of all four ERC commissioners.

While new proposals are pending, existing ones are being ignored. It seems the Department of Energy has its priorities misplaced.

The DOE with Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi at the helm, is seeking proposals for the Philippines’ LNG Hub Terminal project in anticipation of the Malampaya Gas Field’s depletion by 2022.

But isn’t there already a pending proposal which already includes giant Japanese investors, Mitsui and Osaka Gas? Sources said the MVP Group also supports this particular project proposed by Gregorio Araneta Inc. (GAI), the company of businessman Gregorio “Greggy” Araneta III.

 GAI has long proposed to build a $2 billion LNG facility in Bataan with at least 600 megawatts, a plan, which already has the backing of Japanese investors.

The ambitious Energy City LNG project, to be located in the Bataan industrial park of PNOC-Alternative Fuels Corp. (AFC), was submitted for approval as far back as 2012.

 But now, the DOE is seeking other proposals for an LNG facility to be put up in Batangas instead of Bataan.

 What happens next is still anybody’s guess.

 In the meantime, the much-touted Malampaya natural gas site is thinning out. With our territorial dispute with China, it’s unlikely the Philippines can find a new source of gas soon in the West Philippine Sea. 

 President Duterte should be sounding the alarm bells on this, loud enough for the energy department to hear.

It’s the Cadillac

 It’s not Chrysler, but its competitor the Cadillac that may come to the Philippines. If things work out, Duterte’s pal Dennis Uy may become its Filipino distributor.