Metro Manila traffic mess costs P3.5 billion daily

MANILA, Philippines — Traffic cost in the Philippines has worsened to P3.5 billion a day, according to Japan International Cooperation Agency, which has thrown its support behind President Rodrigo Duterte's ambitious program to upgrade the country's dilapidated infrastructure.

JICA on Thursday said that based on its updated report to be finalized by April, the Philippine capital has become more congested in 2017.

That was compared to JICA's 2014 study which found that, without intervention, traffic costs will likely surge to P6 billion a day by 2030 from P2.4 billion.

The Duterte administration has set an P8.44-trillion infrastructure spending plan until 2022 to spur gross domestic product growth to 7-8 percent starting this year from a targeted 6.5-7.5 percent in 2017.

To avoid delays and higher project costs, the Duterte administration said it will shift from public-private partnership as the primary mode of financing and will rely more on public funding and official development assistance.

The government will also employ a "hybrid" model, in which construction is financed by the government or ODA and operation and maintenance is entrusted to the private sector.

The Philippine and Japanese governments are set to sign this March the loan agreement for the P356.9-billion Metro Manila subway project.

The first phase of the Metro Manila Subway project will run from Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City through FTI in Taguig City and end at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Paranaque City.

The subway will help decongest traffic on EDSA and connect major business centers in Metro Manila to the NAIA, the Department of Finance said.

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