MMDA: ‘Keep cleared roads open’

It is the responsibility of the barangay chairmen to maintain cleared roads.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Danilo Lim told local chief executives that their next challenge after the 60-day clearing operations in their respective areas is to sustain the cleared public roads.

Lim gave this declaration as he presided the meeting yesterday of the MMDA Metro Mayors Council, the agency’s governing body.

He urged Metro Manila mayors to ensure the continuity of the clearing of obstructions — “the greater challenge of the campaign” — despite the end of the deadline of the directive, as instructed by President Duterte.

More work has to be done after the clearing operations were over, he stressed.

“Our work is not yet finished. This is a continuing project. We have to maintain and sustain our clearing operations amid the increasing number of vehicles that worsen traffic in Metro Manila,” Lim said during the 26th MMC meeting at the MMDA headquarters in Makati City.

In the past 10 years, he said the number of registered vehicles in Metro Manila has almost doubled, while its road network has only increased by seven percent.

At least 900 vehicles are added to the average daily volume of vehicular traffic along EDSA and major thoroughfares in the metropolis, he added.

The continued multiplication of cars is the problem Metro Manila is facing since the road capacity has barely changed, though infrastructure projects under the “Build, Build, Build” program are underway.

But while waiting for the completion of the infrastructure projects, Lim urged the LGU to maintain what they have started, which is the greater challenge since there is no overnight solution to addressing traffic problems.

He said the MMDA is always ready to assist metro LGU in compliance with the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to reclaim public roads.

In line with this, MMC members have agreed to institutionalize the clearing of obstructions through a resolution that will be adopted by the 17 LGU in Metro Manila. The MMC is the governing arm and policy-making body of the MMDA.

Meanwhile, MMDA general manager Jojo Garcia said barangay officials play a major role in keeping obstructions off the streets.

“It is the responsibility of the barangay chairmen to maintain cleared roads,” Garcia said.

Majority of the obstructions cleared in Metro Manila are illegally parked vehicles, sidewalk vendors, and barangay and police outposts.