A tale of two cities

BANGKOK – As in Manila, the humidity hits you hard the moment you walk out from air-conditioned confines. A blast of humid heat certainly welcomes us as we walk out of the Suvarnabhumi Airport terminal. Like Manila, too, the sun beats down hard here--scorching past the clear window of the bus we’re on.

But unlike Manila, the Thais have literally gone leaps and bounds past the problem of highway gridlock. That is not to say, though, that they have the problem licked. Our tour guide tells us that traffic still hounds shopping complexes, but isn’t that a universal problem?

Largely though, Thailand seeks to mitigate the problem in two ways: improvement of mass public transportation, and construction of more kilometers of road--through flyovers. Admittedly, some acrophobia comes into play, but that’s something I prefer to willingly endure rather than to have my rear lose its feeling, and have needles of pain shoot up into my long-suffering lower back because of protracted stop-and-go traffic.

Thailand’s Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning, according to a news report, predicted that traffic here and in the vicinity are “set to worsen this year as car sales continue to rise.” Almost seven million vehicles were registered here in October 2011, 6.2 percent higher than the previous year’s level. Imagine that 1,225 new cars were registered daily, even as the “total length of the city road network remained the same at 4,149 kilometers.”

So even as the situation here may seem rosier, undeniably sobering facts remain--there are more cars per kilometer of road. It doesn’t take a civil engineer (to say nothing of the much maligned rocket scientist) to realize that it’s a formula for chaos.

World Bank data confirms what many already know about Bangkok. It is “infamous for its traffic jams,” with an arduous average rush hour speed of 17.2 kph in the morning and 24.2 kph in the evening. These lamentable figures stand despite two mass transit lines (a subway and the so-called “Skytrain”). Realizing the onerous problem, the government is adding seven new routes to the road network, representing 291 kilometers, and 24 kilometers more to the mass transportations lines. The plan is to invest US$13.8 billion over six years (ending this year).

A specific project here dubbed the Highways Management Project “to enhance the efficiency, productive use, and management of the road network” is a cautionary tale for Philippine public works. The World Bank advised the Department of Highways to “make every effort to speed up the procurement of the civil works under the Additional Finance loan,” even as the overall ratings of the project has suffered. Progress towards achievement of project development objectives has been “moderately unsatisfactory,” while overall implementation progress has been adjudged “unsatisfactory,” according to the Bank’s implementation and status results.

The Philippines is not a picture of inactivity in envisioning roads unencumbered by traffic snarls. The World Bank mentions the Philippines’ National Roads Improvement and Management Program that “aims for the establishment of road management arrangements which ensure the upgrading and preservation of the National Road System (NRS) in an environmentally, socially, and financially sustainable manner.”

The first part of the two-component project involves improvement of some 450 kilometers of national roads and bridges (including upgrading and widening), and the “delivery of a comprehensive road maintenance program through long-term performance-based contracts and preventive, routine, and emergency maintenance.” The second component involves “institutional and capacity development.”

The Department of Public Works and Highways, on its website, reports that the Philippines registers a score of 3.4 on a scale of one to seven (one being extremely underdeveloped, and seven being “extensive and efficient by international standards”) in the World Development Forum’s rating of overall infrastructure quality. Our score from 2011-2012 represents a miniscule upgrade from the previous year’s 3.2. Thailand, on the other hand, slipped slightly from its 4.9 rating to 4.7, but its grade is certainly more desirable.

The key to sustainable traffic management is planning--and having the cojones (also known as political will) to see it through. Beyond stop-gap reblocking and cosmetic, vote-getting public works, government needs long-term vision to provide the infrastructure to accommodate a growing population.

Former World Bank Philippines country director Bert Hofman appropriately opined in 2008 that “improving the quality of roads will reduce transportation costs, which is important in attracting investments and creating jobs. Better roads also increase the price farmers receive for their produce.”

But to realize this, we need to have real public servants (as opposed to politicians) in key places. Public servants look beyond their own tenure and their acclaim, and have the humility to sustain good projects even if these were started by political opponents. Too much legacy bashing has stymied progress in the Philippines. I’m sure you’ll agree that the road straight and narrow begins with introspection and cleaning up one’s intentions. With head and heart clear, only good things are sure to spring forth. That is a concept truly universal.