THE stretch of the P20.45-billion Naia Expressway was opened to vehicular traffic on Thursday but the Parañaque City government said it will take four more years for traffic to lighten up because of the various government road projects.
But Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said the last segment of the Naia Expressway, will connect Naia Terminals 1, 2, and 3 to the South Luzon Expressway before Christmas season and that should help ease congestion.
“We made a commitment to open this segment. We wanted to ensure it is fully functional right now,” Villar said. “With all systems in place, the operational segment of Naia Expressway will effectively improve traffic flow in the airport vicinity and will cut travel time by at least 60 percent.”
“DPWH would ensure 24/7 operation in the last segment of Naia Expressway. The Duterte administration is conscious of delivering its promise. We will set deadlines and contractors would have to abide,” he added.
At the same time, the Parañaque City government advised motorists and commuters to expect monstrous traffic along major thoroughfares for four more years due to various government projects and other road repair works in the city.
Effective October 1, the city government will reimpose the unified vehicle volume reduction program (UVVRP) or the number coding scheme on all roads.
At the same time, Mayor Edwin Olivarez said he ordered all concerned offices to fully implement the existing truck ban by virtue of the city ordinance passed years ago to have immediate solution on the tremendous traffic problem in the city.
“There is an increase in the volume of traffic in Paranaque for the past five years and it is become unacceptable,” he said.
In an approved resolution dated July 4, 2006, the city council suspended the implementation of the number coding scheme after hundreds of traders near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport objected on the traffic experiment.
The businessmen, whose company are engaged in freight forwarding, trucking services and warehouse rental, complained that they will be heavily affected and experience daily losses in earnings.
Like in the other cities in Metro Manila, the number coding scheme for private cars will be 7 in the morning up to 7 p.m. while the truck ban will be 6 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 8 p.m., Jimenez said.
City hall officials are also anticipating that the traffic in major thoroughfares in the city will be experienced by motorists until 2020 because the construction of the first phase of the Cavitex C5 Link Expressway faces delays because of the right-of-way issue.
San Miguel Corp. and the Citra group of Indonesia, operator of South Luzon Expressway have yet to sign the memorandum of agreement, while the three other signatories—Public Works Department, Transportation Department and Cavitex already signed the deal.