THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) along with the officials of Bacolod City on Tuesday, December 4, held a meeting with the barangay officials and business sectors at the Government Center.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia said on Tuesday it’s also important to get a feedback from the barangay officials and business sectors on the traffic situation in the city.
“I encourage them to air their complaints or observations so that it will also be given a focus. I want them to be here so that there will be an acceptance and participation to address the traffic situation,” he said.
The MMDA team led by traffic and engineering center director Neomie Recio arrived in Bacolod on Sunday to study the traffic situation here for 12 days and propose a Traffic Management Masterplan.
They already visited the busiest intersections during peak hours in the morning and in the afternoon.
The MMDA will compare the traffic volume against the traffic capacity of the roads, and identify traffic generators and problems in certain areas and make recommendations on how to solve them.
After the 12-day study, the MMDA will bring the data to their office in Manila for analysis and evaluation.
“The MMDA is here to help and guide us to address our traffic situation here and we should be thankful to them,” Leonardia said.
He said the MMDA was created in the 1970s and it’s the first time they visited Bacolod.
Aside from Bacolod City, several places were also asking the assistance of MMDA for a Traffic Management Masterplan.
The MMDA performs planning, monitoring, and coordinative functions, and in the process exercises regulatory and supervisory authority over the delivery of metro-wide services within Metro Manila.
Leonardia also scored his critics for claiming that MMDA failed to address the traffic situation in Manila.
He said the Metro Manila situation is an impossible traffic situation, which according to the MMDA, as there are 10.7 million cars in the Philippines and 25 percent of it is in Manila or 2.7 million of cars.
He said that in terms of road networks in the Philippines, Metro Manila has only 2.6 percent of the road network.
“I’m sure they’re going to break their heads, but at the meantime, the solutions like the skyway, subway and MRT were already rendered by the national government,” he added.
The mayor noted that in Bacolod, the MMDA also mentioned that the city should not only solve the existing traffic concern but at the same time preparing for the future.
“We should plan in advance because there’s no doubt about it that as of today, Bacolod is one of the fastest growing economies in the country. Only a traitor in Bacolod can say that we are not progressing,” Leonardia said. (MAP)