Decongesting the metropolis
Research conducted by a British group on stress levels in 500 major cities across the globe ranked Manila as the 10th most stressful city in the world for 2017 — next to Baghdad, Kabul, Lagos, Dakar, Cairo, Tehran, Dhaka, Karachi and New Delhi.
On a scale of one to 10, Manila’s stressfulness score of 8.92 was higher than war-torn Damascus, which scored 8.66 points and landed at 11th place. The study measured various factors affecting the citizens such as security, unemployment, population density, debt per capita, public transport, physical and mental health, percent of green spaces, pollution and traffic.
However, the latest data from the government’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) showed an improvement in the air quality of the National Capital Region (NCR). According to the EMB, 80% of pollutants in Metro Manila come from motor vehicles, while the remainder emanates from stationary sources including factories, construction sites, and open-burning activities.
Traffic has lately eased up along Ortigas Avenue, particularly those portions at the boundaries of San Juan, Mandaluyong, and Quezon cities. This positive development has been attributed to the relocation of a national government agency from its central office near the corner of Ortigas and EDSA.
I’m referring to the Department of Transportation (DoTr), which recently transferred its headquarters to the New Clark City straddling the provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac in Central Luzon region. The DoTr supposedly has the most number of employees and attached agencies in the entire bureaucracy, and its decision to transfer was aimed “to help decongest Metro Manila, reduce travel time and improve travel of motorists, and boost development in the peripheries of NCR.”
A 2014 report from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) revealed that traffic congestion in the NCR resulted in losses of at least P2.4 billion daily. JICA warned that this might even reach P6 billion per day if left unsolved.
Lately I’ve noticed that the Waze mobile app more often suggests using Ortigas Avenue to either get access to EDSA or connect to C5 in going south, compared to the time when the DoTr was still housed at Columbia Tower in the Mandaluyong side of Ortigas.
Spearheading the transfer to the New Clark City is Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade, who has expressed his full support for the creation of the National Government Center in Clark as envisioned by the “Build, Build, Build” program of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
Mr. Tugade knows whereof he speaks, coming from successful stints in the logistics and shipping industries where he dealt with large enterprises like the Japanese firm Nippon Yusen Kaisha or NYK Line. The DoTr chief is unique among Cabinet members in having a private sector perspective combined with his subsequent role as CEO of state-owned Clark Development Corp.
Such an experience exposed him to the Japanese management principles of just-intime (JIT), which emphasizes the need for timeliness as well as the importance of infrastructure to easily move people and goods on a worldwide basis. His JIT background must have provided the impetus to decongest Metro Manila and champion the relocation to Clark’s relatively stress-free environment.
As a result, government properties at the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone, which are actually assets belonging to the Filipino people, have increased in value. At the same time, individuals who transact business with the DoTr have started to realize that there are investment opportunities in Clark.
Another government agency that will soon relocate to the New Clark City is the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) led by CEO Vivencio B. Dizon. BCDA’s main office is currently based at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
We need more leaders who walk the talk just like those in the executive branch who advocate the decongestion of our roads and airports. Hopefully, the example set by Mr. Tugade would have a follow-on effect, triggering an exodus of government offices to Clark and other less congested locations.