WITH the influx of investments here, Davao City will most likely mirror the traffic situation in Metro Manila if left without a railway system or any parking or transport scheme within the next five years.
City Investment Promotions Officer Ivan Cortez, in an interview with reporters, said Davao City needs a railway system to sustain economic growth as billions can be lost with the presence of traffic congestion causing poor logistics and productivity in transporting goods and products.
“If we have a railway system, we can sustain, but without that maybe five years from now, we will reach the saturation point just like Manila but with the presence of it (railway system) maybe it will take some 20 more years before Davao’s traffic will be saturated,” he said.
He emphasized that effective parking and transport system must be in place as more vehicles are filling up the roads without these being expanded and with numerous buildings not having their own parking lots.
“Individuals can now have an easy access of owning a car, more cars are now in the roads and highways but our roads are not even expanding, with this, traffic will surely worsen,” he said.
Cortez described that Davao City is presently experiencing heavy traffic congestion especially during rush hours, around 5 to 7 p.m., and is being worsened by ongoing road and drainage improvement projects of the government.
The traffic, he said, started to build up for the last two years.
He added that traffic problem will significantly affect and hamper the productivity and logistics in the city.
“Heavily affected will be the productivity and logistics, but investors will not be running away from Davao since the market is already here,” he said.
With these traffic woes, Cortez is bullish that the incoming administration under President-elect Rodrigo Duterte will have his ways of devising a mass transport system.
Earlier this week, Duterte said a railway system is among his top priority project.
Cortez also recommended that the new administration must apply new traffic schemes to solve the problem which include a parking space for all car owners and looking and benchmarking on the practices of major cities abroad such as Singapore, London, and New York.
“The city needs more parking facilities, maybe through a multilevel parking system,” Cortez said but quickly added that establishing such must be initiated by a private company.
The system, he said, has a low income in terms of the Return of Investment.
Data from the city’s transportation department show that registered private vehicles in the city already reached 33,458. The figure is growing daily.