BF, Binay clash anew over C5-Kalayaan traffic mess in Makati

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay are at it again.

The two officials clashed anew during yesterday’s Metro Mayor’s Council meeting over how to solve the traffic problem at the C5-Kalayaan intersection.

Fernando still wants to go on with his rather creative elevated U-turn project while Binay wants an ordinary underpass.

Invoking his power as chairman of the Metro Manila Regional Development Council, the MMDA Chairman is determined to push through with his proposal instead of the interchange project of the Department of Public Works and Highways, which some mayors, including Binay, are supporting.

"Yes, we could vote on the matter. But it is actually incumbent on the availability of funds. In the end, it will be the MMRDC that will decide," Fernando said.

Yesterday’s MMC meeting dealt mostly on the long-stalled implementation of the DPWH’s P2.8 billion Metro Manila Interchange Project that has been funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

One component of this foreign-assisted project is the construction of a 1,054-meter long underpass along C-5 road in Makati, which will cut below the Kalayaan Avenue intersection.

Binay questioned Fernando’s elevated U-turn proposal noting that the underpass project has already been bid out and funds were already allotted.

"There’s a finished contract. The foreign loan is even about to expire. Kulang na lang mobilization," Binay said.

In the end, the mayors agreed to let both the DPWH and MMDA have their own presentations of their respective projects so the MMC can decide which is better.

Fernando stood firm that construction of two elevated U-turn flyover along C-5 road will cost only P350 million, compared to the P512 million tunnel of the DPWH.

With the elevated U-turn, he said it could improve traffic along the C-5 road and Kalayaan Avenue with "very little conflict."

The MMDA chief said he had shelved that tunnel project back in 2003 when he was the acting secretary of the DPWH because "tunnels cause us more troubles, it’s difficult to maintain, it has to be lighted sufficiently at all times, it’s prone to floods and when a vehicle gets stalled, it’s hard to pull it out."

"I’m just trying to save money. Gagastos na rin lang tayo, ‘dun sa mas mura at magaling," Fernando said.