President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday lauded the inauguration of the Pañaraque Integrated Terminal Exchange, expressing optimism that it will help alleviate traffic in the country’s capital.
“I am impressed, I am proud that they did this beautiful structure. And it will serve the Filipino and that is what is very important,” he said, congratulating the Department of Tourism and the Megawide and Walter Mart Terminal Inc., for building the modern land transport terminal free from any whiff of corruption.
As the first integrated and multi-modal terminal in the southwestern part of Metro Manila, PITX is a “landmark” land port project, with its airport-like facilities, Duterte said.
“It is one of the three intermodal terminals to be developed by the government in cooperation with the private sector,” he said.
Duterte also underscored PITX’s function in curbing traffic congestion in Metro Manila.
“This will offer passengers a safer, state-of-the-art, and convenient terminal experience that will hopefully contribute in addressing traffic congestion in Metro Manila,” he said.
“This will help ease traffic by limiting provincial buses plying Metro Manila roads, specifically along Roxas Boulevard and the EDSA-Taft area. It will also serve as a transfer point between the provincial buses from Cavite, western Batangas, and other in-city modes of transportation,” he added.
The newly-inaugurated PITX can accommodate up to 100,000 passengers daily. The land port also features departure and arrival bays for buses, jeepneys, and taxis.
Aiming to provide a safe and convenient transport experience of the public, PITX also arranges bus reservations and online bookings.
The President directed both the DOTr and MWM Terminals to take the necessary measures to ensure that all vehicles that use PITX are roadworthy and comply with environmental laws.
“With the Build, Build, Build program in full swing, I assure our people that the government is exerting all efforts to construct the necessary infrastructure that would sustain our country’s continued development,” he said.
“Together, let us work hard to lay down the physical foundations of a more progressive and prosperous nation so that our countrymen will enjoy at the very least, not a rich life, not even a bar lower than that, but at least we can assure them of just a comfortable life,” he added.
The PITX, a 4.5-hectare land port, will start operating in the second week of November.
Edgar Saavedra, chairman, and chief executive of Megawide Construction Corp., said he considered PITX one of the most important projects launched by the government.
“For so long, Metro Manila commuters have had to endure the unfriendly conditions of their daily commute on top of the long hours in heavy traffic. Now, we are finally providing a solution to these long-standing problems,” he added.
PITX is a flagship project under the Department of Transportation in partnership with MWM Terminals Inc., a subsidiary of engineering and infrastructure conglomerate Megawide. It was awarded in 2015.
The PITX was built to handle a capacity of 1,000 buses and 200,000 passengers per day. Located in Parañaque City, the intermodal transport hub will provide passengers with access to multiple modes of transportation such as buses, jeepneys, taxis, UV shuttles. There will also be a future connection to LRT Line 1.
Louie Ferrer, MWM Terminals president, explained the importance of the intermodal design.
“During our studies, passengers identified difficult transfers as the most pressing problem. There are no guarantees as to arrival or departure times, nor there is no one facility where they can find all the transport options they need. PITX aims to address this problem by providing passengers with multiple modes of transport in one easy to navigate facility,” Ferrer said.
Ferrer also spoke about the other vision for PITX, which is reducing traffic congestion in Metro Manila. He said that when Megawide bid for the project, part of its objective was to help reduce the number of vehicles in the inner cities by acting as a transfer point between provincial and in-city modes of transport. This was an important element that they included in their project studies.
“In progressive cities, transfers between provincial and city transport are organized in one location. They have experienced traffic problems similar to what we are facing now, and we can learn from the solutions they are implementing,” Ferrer said.