Edsa decongestion projects seen to create jobs, boost growth – Andanar

By Prince Golez

Communications Secretary Martin Andanar assured that the administration’s promise to decongest Edsa will continue on top of its proactive response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The government’s decongestion program aims to mitigate road traffic congestion along Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare to create jobs and spur economic growth, Andanar said during the Cabinet Report sa Teleradyo recently.

“While we are dealing with the pandemic, the infrastructure projects are expected to continue for the benefit of the Filipino people. Every road, bridge, or building we build will provide jobs for our people, and help our economy to recover,” according to him.

“We can now see the importance of these infrastructure projects in the decongestion of EDSA, as well as in preparing for natural disasters. That is why one of the main priorities of the national government is the Build Build Build Program, and we can see its benefits in decongesting EDSA,” he furthered.

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said infrastructure projects under the Build Build Build program generated over 1.6 million construction-related jobs.

“The economy is about connectivity. If you cannot move products and goods, there will be no economic growth. That’s the problem. The economic development is slow because there are blockages. So that’s what we are doing now. We’re bypassing all these blockages so in effect, we can have a free-flowing economy, with a much bigger growth,” said Villar.

While the capacity of Edsa is only for 280,000 cars per day, the secretary lamented that more than 400,000 cars passed through it every day before the decongestion program.

Now, around 120,000 cars per day are expected to be rerouted, bringing EDSA back to its original capacity.

Villar also noted that three major infrastructure projects under the EDSA decongestion program have been completed.

These are the Laguna Lake Highway from Bicutan to Taytay, the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10, which allows trucks from the port to go to NLEX without passing through the streets of Metro Manila, and the 18.30-km Metro Manila SkyWay Stage 3, an elevated expressway that connects Buendia, Makati City to the North Luzon Expressway in Balintawak, Quezon City.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)