The government continues to fast-track the implementation of major infrastructure projects to address traffic congestion, which is costing the economy over P3 billion a day and this may reach P5 billion in daily economic losses if left unchecked.
Manuel Bonoan, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary, said at the Philippine Economic Briefing in Laoag the government will address the traffic congestion in line with the Marcos administration’s medium-term development plan for 2023 to 2028, through the construction of bridges, highways and national linkages, among others.
“In recent studies, with the traffic congestion today, we will be losing P3 billion a day from now and in 2025, it will be almost P5 billion that we will be losing in our economy. Under the traffic development program, we have to develop high-standard highways and expressways, we have to address by-passes, diversion roads, and also to develop inter-island connectivity and we have to address the gap,” Bonoan said.
To date, DPWH is implementing 30,000 projects nationwide that would create 2 million to 3 million direct employment in the country, he added.
These projects include the Luzon Spine Expressway, an extension of the entire expressway from Laoag all the way to Bicol. The entire spine consists of 1,073 kilometers of expressway.
As part of the expressway expansion, San Miguel Corp.’s unsolicited proposal for the P23.5-billion Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) extension from Rosario to San Juan is slated to start construction by the first quarter of next year, Bonoan said.
“The extension of the TPLEX from Rosario to San Juan is in the final stage of negotiations with the unsolicited proposal of the SMC; probably next year construction will start,” he said.
The project involves a 59.4-km four-lane toll road divided into the following segments: Rosario-Tubao, Tubao-Naguilian and Naguilian-San Juan.
Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has lined up projects to address congestion in the aviation and road sectors that include the improvement and expansion of the railway systems and airports, among others.
The country’s premier gateway, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), is projected to handle 50 million passengers by year-end which is beyond its ideal capacity of 32 million yearly, noted Jaime Bautista, DOTr secretary.
To address traffic congestion in the aviation sector, Bautista said SMC’s P735.5-billion New Manila International Airport (NMIA) in Bulakan, Bulacan, will have a capacity of more than 100 million passengers yearly and support the growing demand for travel.
Construction of the NMIA passenger terminal is expected to start in the first quarter of next year, as land development has reached about 70 percent.
In addition, DOTr is also finalizing the terms of reference for the bidding of the P170-billion NAIA rehabilitation project which will be published next week to invite the private sector to participate in the bidding, said Bautista
The DOTr will implement 71 projects including the development of Laoag airport. “We are now in the process of the contract for the improvement of the passenger terminal building in Laoag,” he said.
For the rail sector, DOTr is on track to complete the construction of the Metro Rail Transit line 7 by June 2025 and continues to work with the private sector to start the operation in the same year, said Bautista.
Other projects include a common station for the railway systems in Quezon City, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) line 1 extension to Cavite, LRT-2 extension, Metro Manila Subway project and the North and South Commuter Rail project.
