Yehey for C-6!

Coming from the South, and exiting Bicutan, you may have used the Circumferencial Road 6, or better known as C-6.

In its blueprint from decades ago when the Metro Manila Development Authority had first mapped out the metropolis’ masterplan, C-6 was designated aa the last beltway of Metro Manila that would connect the provinces of Bulacan in the North and Cavite in the South while passing though Rizal in the East.

About 60 kilometers long, C6 was also a major highway that would divert traffic away from Edsa and C-5.

As things stand, C-6 has been neglected while everybody complains how C-5 and Edsa are so clogged up almost 24 hours a day.

Why? Because C-6 continues to be a ghost of what it should be.

At the moment, only the Taguig segment is passable—and only if you would want to risk breaking your vehicle’s underchassis joints from all the big potholes that you have to pass through.

C-6 has not been developed to its full potential because of the usual government problem about funding.

Metro Manila taxpayers should feel robbed about having to surrender their income taxes year after year only to be given band-aid remedies to the terrible traffic congestion problems of the metropolis.

We’ve been asked to be off Edsa and selected major roads one day a week, to bear with the slow-moving highways, and to pay for toll fees on major roads that the government had to ask private firms to build.

Well, traffic is part of the challenges that a developing country like ours will usually face. It turns into a catch-up game when the state has not enough money to be proactive about building its own infrastructure.

Golden age

But lighten up because the Philippines is reportedly at the brink of ushering in a golden age in infrastructure.

Thanks to President Duterte’s political will, his economic team has been working hard to crank up a build, build, build mantra that would underpin all the expected groundbreaking ceremonies in the next five years for new infrastructure projects.

A total of 64 big-ticket projects are in a list that’s been summed to cost some P3.6 trillion and spent over the next six years from government funds.

These projects do not just cover new roads, but also transportation modes, power, information technology, and disaster mitigation.

Some of the projects that would excite people (like me) who are fed up with losing all those non-productive hours in traffic include the NLEX-SLEX connector road.

This project, which is a P23.3-billion turnkey project for an 8-km 4-lane elevated expressway over the Philippine National Railway (PNR) right of way, will decongesst traffic in Metro Manila by providing an alternative road also to C-5 and Edsa.

This will start from the C3 Road in Caloocan through Manila crossing Espana towards PUP, Sta. Mesa, and connecting Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 (MMSS3).

The best news is that it will cut travel time between NLEX and SLEX to 15-20 minutes, a far cry from the one to two hours travel that we usually experience today.

Other good-news projects include the BGC to Ortigas Roadt Link which should reduce vehicles passing Edsa again; the UP-Miriam-Ateneo Viaduct which should improve travel time on this stretch; the Metro Manila Bus Rapid Train system; the BGC to NAIA Bus rapid transit system; and the Mega Manila Subway Phase 1 from Quezon City to Taguig.

A more detailed list of the projects can be found on build.gov.ph.

Seamless

Going back to C-6, the good news here is that San Miguel Corporation (SMC) signed an agreement with state-run Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC) to spend P554 billion for projects that will expand its existing Skyway including the C-6 elevated road.

This is, of course, a paywhen-you-enter road and is to be called the Metro Manila Expressway.

The project is expected to be started early next year, and will be linked to other parts of SMC’s existing and planned road tollway interests.

SMC is ambitiously declaring that it will create an entire seamless network of roads and expressways connecting Metro Manila to neighboring provinces.

Given how the TPLEx project and the NAIA Connector Road of SMC has made travel time so much easier for us, the only issue left is the cost to motorists.