WHEN President Duterte said last June that it will be possible to travel from Makati to Cubao in Quezon City in only five minutes by December, his statement was received with a lot of skepticism. Five minutes – when it now takes one hour? And two hours the other way?
Last Wednesday, the head of the “Build, Build, Build” Interagency Committee in the Department of Public Works and Highways, Anna Mae Lementillo, said it may be possible to achieve the five-minute goal, not through one single project but by a combination of several factors.
The government, she said, is now expediting work on Skyway Stage 3, a Metro Manila loop that includes the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX)-Harbor Link from the Valenzuela-Caloocan area to the Port Area in Manila.
Work is being rushed on the elevated highway connecting the SLEX to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), from Osmeña Highway in Makati to Araneta Blvd. to Balintawak Ave. and ending in Caloocan. This is actually an old project that began during the previous Aquino administration which now being rushed to completion.
And then there is the Luzon Spine Expressway which will connect several expressways from La Union to Clark and to Subic, to the Metro Manila expressways and skyways, all the way to Southern Tagalog. The Laguna Lake Expressway has been completed. Several bridges are under construction, like the Bonifacio Global City-Ortigas link.
These are not directly linked to EDSA but when they are completed, many of the thousands of vehicles now needing to use EDSA will choose to use these new roads and bridges instead. These new alternative routés are expected to absorb some 300,000 vehicles that now clog EDSA.
The completion of all these projects is expected only in 2022, but some will be ready in the coming months, as officials press the contractors to step up their work. This is perhaps the most important effect of President Duterte’s voicing his espectation that the QC-Makai trip along EDSA should be down to five minutes by December. It may not come true 100 percent but any improvement – say, 15 to 20 minutes from QC to Makati would be most welcome.
And we will have President Duterte to thank for voicing his five-minute expectation – an exaggeration, to be sure, but one which is spurring action above the usual tolerant attitude responsible for long delays in government projects in the past.
