THE VIEW FROM RIZAL
It looks like the Department of Transportation (DOTr) is on some sort of “winning streak.”
Friday evening of the other weekend, we saw the news about the announcement of the winning bidder for the contract to rehabilitate, operate, and manage the country’s premiere airport, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport break and trend on social media.
This development followed the recent announcement by President Bongbong Marcos Jr. that his administration is serious about starting Phase 1 of the Mindanao Railway Project. A little earlier than that, we saw news items reporting the progress of the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) project, the 147-kilometer railway that will connect Calamba City south of Metro Manila and the New Clark City north of the National Capital Region.
Much earlier, the DOTr commenced the pre-construction stage of the MRT 4 Project, the light rail transit that will traverse Ortigas Extension and connect several towns of Rizal province with several business and commercial centers of Metro Manila.
These developments create much hope at a time when the country is being pictured as having the “worst traffic in the world,” and one of the world’s “worst airports.” In a way, the efforts of the DOTr led by Secretary Jaime Bautista seem to indicate that our bad reputation in the arena of global travel will soon change for the better.
The announcement of the winning bidder for the rehabilitation, operation, and management of NAIA has been a much-awaited event. When the plan to tap the private sector for the urgent task, there were initial worries about the implication of business entities operating government-owned public service facilities.
Such fears appeared to have been addressed when Secretary Jimmy announced that the winning bidder was the consortium led by San Miguel Corporation. This is the same entity that is currently building a modern airport complex in Bulacan. It also gave us the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) which significantly cut travel time and made trips to Baguio City and Northern Luzon more pleasant.
The San Miguel-led consortium will face a major challenge. Just recently, our NAIA topped the list of the “world’s 10 worst airports” based on online voting results. The other year, it landed on the third spot in the list of “The Most Stressful Airports in America and the World” published by Skytrax. Another study done last year put NAIA at the eighth spot in the list of the “World’s worst airports in terms of queuing time.”
With the consortium coming in, hopes are high that such woes will be a thing of the past.
Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio shares the optimism. In an official statement, he said:
“With the rollout of significant investments (by the consortium) in the coming years, the Filipino people can look forward to shorter queues and waiting times, reduced flight delays, improved service quality, and better overall passenger experience.”
We were happy to note that part of the San Miguel-led consortium is the Incheon International Airport Corporation, the operator of the South Korean airport, one of the region’s busiest hubs. Incheon International Airport also happens to be at the fourth spot in the list of the world’s best airports according to Skytrax. It follows Changi of Singapore which is at number one; Hamad International Airport of Qatar; and, Japan’s Haneda International Airport. Skytrax also gave Incheon International Airport a five-star rating.
With the South Korean corporation’s presence in the consortium, we can look forward to coming closer to having one of the world’s best airports.
As mentioned, there are fears that the entry of the private sector into the operation and management of our airports may impact the costs of airline travel and cause increases in airport fees. We will not discount this possibility.
However, our view is that progress has a price tag attached to it. We must be willing to pay the price if we are to bring our transportation hubs and systems out of their miserable condition and into world-class standards of efficiency.
This has been our experience with our expressways and skyways. The fact is almost no one raises a howl anymore against toll fees. We have concluded that the comfort and convenience of the transportation systems are worth paying the price.
There were also initial murmurs that the modern rail transportation systems being built and planned by Secretary Jimmy’s team might raise the price of travel and exact social costs, such as the displacement of informal settler communities living along railroad tracks. Again, we do not discount the possibility that the fare for a ride in the high-speed NSCR trains could be pricey. Will we not be willing to pay the price of efficient, comfortable, and speedy travel?
As for the relocation of informal settler communities, DOTr Undersecretary for Rail, Jeremy Regino, had repeated assurances that there are relocation sites already prepared for the affected parties. It is now just a matter of getting the full cooperation of these communities for the NSCR project to shift into high gear.
Congratulations to the national government, particularly to the DOTr. We hope that the winning streak continues. We all win here. ([email protected])