Businessmen back MMDA chief’s moves

The business community has expressed support for Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando and his policies on traffic management.

A recent survey conducted among members of the Makati Business Club (MBC) revealed that more than 90 percent were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with what Fernando has being doing so far as MMDA chairman. Only seven percent said that they were undecided about the performance of Fernando while three percent expressed dissatisfaction.

The survey focused primarily on the traffic management programs.

On the controversial campaign of the MMDA to remove the sidewalk vendors and other obstructions, 94 percent of respondents strongly agreed that the roads should be recovered for the use of the motorists and pedestrians.

Fernando’s pronouncements about the possible lifting of the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction program, or the "color-coding" scheme also drew strong support from the business sector.

The MMDA chief previously announced that the scheme would most likely be lifted early next year on an experimental basis.

The survey results were evenly split with 28.7 percent strongly agreeing and strongly disagreeing over Fernando’s proposal to open up selected private subdivision roads for public use, provided it would alleviate traffic in the area. However, 20.8 percent somewhat agreed with the proposal, tilting the results in favor of opening up private roads.

Fernando reiterated the other day the need to open up the subdivision roads to the public, saying there is no law to support the closure of any road and that no permit could ever be issued for the purpose.

Surprisingly, 46.5 percent somewhat or strongly disagreed with the chairman’s idea to reduce the truck ban hours in Metro Manila, The truck ban limits business deliveries to certain hours and has the effect of raising the cost of delivery of goods within the metropolitan area, One third of respondents felt the truck ban should be reduced.

On the overall traffic situation in Metro Manila, almost 75 percent of respondents said that they noticed a little to a lot of improvement since Fernando’s assumption as MMDA chief.

The MBC pointed out that the results were part of the new business opinion survey being conducted by the organization on a quarterly basis starting this month. The surveys cover social issues that concern the business community.

A total of 101 business executives took part in the recent survey representing 12.8 percent of MBC members.

Some 90 percent of the respondents were from top management with over 70 percent being Filipino men.