DOTC chief bats for mass transport system

Transportation and Communications Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez reiterated yesterday the Arroyo administration’s commitment to the establishment of mass transportation systems to help combat global warming and air pollution.

Speaking at a conference of transportation ministers and officials at the First Policy Initiative in Transport (1st POINT) in Bangkok, Thailand, Alvarez shared the Philippines’ "experience and best practices" in combating urban traffic congestion and air pollution caused by gas emissions from motor vehicles.

Alvarez offered the Philippine experience in the management of public utility vehicles with their attendant problems of air pollution and traffic congestion, especially in the Metro Manila area, which led to the conception of the mass transport system.

He told his Asian counterparts that more than two million vehicles are operating in Metro Manila alone. One third of these vehicles, he said, use diesel engines.

"Analysis of the impact of air pollution has concluded that the poor are the most vulnerable group, considering their exposure," Alvarez revealed.

With the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1999 and the Asian Development Bank-assisted Air Quality Improvement Sector Development Program, the government initiated a policy reform package.

One of the major components of the policy reform package is the provision for urban railway development. Hence the LRT-MRT projects to address the twin problem of traffic and air pollution in Metro Manila," Alvarez said.

The two-day conference which ended Thursday was initiated by the Ministry of Transport and Communication of Thailand in cooperation with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan.

The meeting, with the theme Transport-related Environmental Issues in Asian Cities and their Solutions, is a follow-up workshop to the Tokyo Ministerial Conference of Transport held last Jan. 15-16, 2002.

The Bangkok meeting aimed to achieve structural solutions to urban traffic congestion and air pollution and to come up with necessary implementation measures for low-pollution transport.

Among the proposals adopted by the conference was the establishment of a working POINT secretariat at the International Cooperation Division, Policy Bureau, of the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in Tokyo.

The secretariat will serve as a clearinghouse for regional cooperation on transport-related issues which countries in the region share in common regardless of their level of economic development.

The participating countries, however, also have the option to request for bilateral discussions with Japan, the major producer and supplier of most vehicles being used in the Asian region.