Of Low Hanging or Ripened Fruits
Speech before the Rotary Club of Pasig, Valle Verde CC, Oct.27, 2011
1. One good advice to follow, whether one is in the private sector or public service whenever overwhelmed by big, daunting and unstructured tasks ahead: pick the low hanging fruits first. And I would add: also the ripened ones. It makes sense not only because it gives us a sense of movement or progress but because success breeds success. It is a good psychological prop. Do the doables first while you are figuring out what and how to do the rest.
2. That is what we face now at BCDA.
While we do our mandated "bread and butter" task of selling or liquidating our land assets at the former Fort Boni and Villamor Air Base, we want to do what is "strategic" in the development of Metro Manila and of Central and Northern Luzon where we are located. We are not just" liquidators." We are "game changers." We want to do what will be game changing in the administration of President Aquino III.
3. And what could be more strategic and game changing than effecting the link up between the airports of Manila and Clark, and at the same time help solve the horrendous traffic problem of Greater Manila? I said link up because "transfer" connotes uprooting and that raised such a hue and cry from certain sectors but whether we have one airport or a dual airport system for the Greater Capital Region (GCR) like Tokyo, KL, Bangkok, London or D.C., any talk of a link up will remain idle talk unless we solve the connection problem between NAIA and DMIA.
There are,of course, issues on split operations in a dual airport system such as concentrating only the international services in one and the domestic in the other, or the long haul in one and the short haul in the other, or looking at the Haneda-Narita model that designates one for domestic services but allows it limited international routes as well. In any case, a free market and equal treatment seem to be preferred by the Airlines. But these are details that should not prevent the link up that is meant to decongest the air traffic problem at NAIA where airline movements (take offs and landings) have exceeded the scheduling limit of 36 movements per hour.
But why consider only DMIA? The reason is among 6 options that included San Nicolas Shoals (Sangley Pt. ) and Rizal- Talim Island, Clark is considered in a JICA Study as the best option because it has already 2 runways, 2500 hectares of land, and the ability to cater to A380 operations. But this conclusion is contingent on the following prerequisite conditions:
1. Concurrent completion of a high speed rail connection (travel times not exceeding 45 minutes).
2. Concurrent completion of NLEx/Skyway connections.
3.Timely development of various supporting facilities and infrastructure at and around DMIA.
The third would include the Terminal for both Low Cost Carriers (lCC) and Legacy Airlines.
3. The above preconditions are ideals "devoutly to be wished" but they are not exactly low hanging fruits, especially the high speed rail. But one has already ripened and is not hanging too high to be brought down, and that is the NLEx/Skyway /SLEx connections. Its completion will also make the Terminal project (for the Budget Carriers, at least) for 7 million passengers viable .
An unsolicited offer for the NLEx/SLEx elevated expressway connector using the PNR alignment is now at the stage for a competitive challenge. The process should be allowed to continue without delay. The DPWH and DOTC are only making sure there is parallel ROW space either alongside or below the elevated expressway connector when the express train project pushes through.
But there is no question that the unsolicited offer qualifies under the BOT Law which requires that the offer involves a new concept (technology or design) and that it is not included in the Government's list of priority projects.The idea of utilizing the air space above the PNR alignment to connect NLEx and SLEx would only come from one who has keen interest in connecting the two expressways. Certainly, no bureaucrat in DPWH would have thought of including it in the list of priority projects. It is not surprising that it was MNTC, which operates the NLEx and soon the SCTEx, that submitted the unsolicited offer.
4. This elevated expressway connector would make travel for motorists between NAIA and DMIA, a distance of 100 kms, a mere 70 minutes instead of 2 or even 3 hours that it takes at present. It will also decongest EDSA and C5. While it won't be as fast as an express train, this would partly address the connectivity issue between the 2 airports. This was also the case for Haneda and Narita where for some 10 years only an expressway served as connection before the express rail was completed.
5. If awarded this year, this connector will be finished during the term of the President. By itself, the connector road is a game changer. On the other hand, the express train, whether on the Northrail alignment or on NLEx, will come way after the President's term. We support Sec Roxas' efforts to reconfigure the Northrail contract, and if done, the express train can run along the same track as the commuter trains.
I recall that when President Arroyo,for some reason, was being induced by certain parties to change the alignment of SCTEx so that it could be rebid, we told the President that the ROW was already bought by the Government and that if the alignment was changed to traverse directly through the mountains, not only it would be more costly because of the terrain, but another ECC will have to be secured so that there is no way she would be cutting the ribbon for the project. We all know that she cut the ribbon in the opening of the SCTEx.
6. Another ripening fruit, though not exactly low lying but reachable during President Aquino's term is the elevated monorail project that BCDA can do with the DOTC and MMDA for the CBDs of Taguig (Global City) and Pasay (Airport City) which are under the control of BCDA, and Makati. The monorail loop will connect with the MRT at EDSA, LRT at Taft and the PNR line at Osmena, thus virtually serving the 13 million population of Metro Manila. Tokyo's monorail that was constructed when it hosted the Olympics, still serves the City and runs through a few steps from the departure lounge of Haneda airport. Sydney, with 3.5 million people, has a monorail.
A concept study is now being done for an application for a feasibility study grant from JICA. Given the remaining years left of the President's term, this project can be completed, hopefully during his term.
This project is another game changer as it would address the traffic problems of the CBDs, connect them to the NAIA airports, and serve MegaManila as the LRT and MRT expands into Cavite and Rizal. It will be green as it will run on electricity but with no ugly dangling wires.
7.BCDA certainly has the institutional authority (RA 7227), the track record (SCTEx which has given birth to another PPP project- TPLEx), a professional organization and financial muscle (having unloaded the P34 B debt service burden for SCTEx to MNTC) to do and complete this project under the term of the President.
Speech before the Rotary Club of Pasig, Valle Verde CC, Oct.27, 2011
1. One good advice to follow, whether one is in the private sector or public service whenever overwhelmed by big, daunting and unstructured tasks ahead: pick the low hanging fruits first. And I would add: also the ripened ones. It makes sense not only because it gives us a sense of movement or progress but because success breeds success. It is a good psychological prop. Do the doables first while you are figuring out what and how to do the rest.
2. That is what we face now at BCDA.
While we do our mandated "bread and butter" task of selling or liquidating our land assets at the former Fort Boni and Villamor Air Base, we want to do what is "strategic" in the development of Metro Manila and of Central and Northern Luzon where we are located. We are not just" liquidators." We are "game changers." We want to do what will be game changing in the administration of President Aquino III.
3. And what could be more strategic and game changing than effecting the link up between the airports of Manila and Clark, and at the same time help solve the horrendous traffic problem of Greater Manila? I said link up because "transfer" connotes uprooting and that raised such a hue and cry from certain sectors but whether we have one airport or a dual airport system for the Greater Capital Region (GCR) like Tokyo, KL, Bangkok, London or D.C., any talk of a link up will remain idle talk unless we solve the connection problem between NAIA and DMIA.
There are,of course, issues on split operations in a dual airport system such as concentrating only the international services in one and the domestic in the other, or the long haul in one and the short haul in the other, or looking at the Haneda-Narita model that designates one for domestic services but allows it limited international routes as well. In any case, a free market and equal treatment seem to be preferred by the Airlines. But these are details that should not prevent the link up that is meant to decongest the air traffic problem at NAIA where airline movements (take offs and landings) have exceeded the scheduling limit of 36 movements per hour.
But why consider only DMIA? The reason is among 6 options that included San Nicolas Shoals (Sangley Pt. ) and Rizal- Talim Island, Clark is considered in a JICA Study as the best option because it has already 2 runways, 2500 hectares of land, and the ability to cater to A380 operations. But this conclusion is contingent on the following prerequisite conditions:
1. Concurrent completion of a high speed rail connection (travel times not exceeding 45 minutes).
2. Concurrent completion of NLEx/Skyway connections.
3.Timely development of various supporting facilities and infrastructure at and around DMIA.
The third would include the Terminal for both Low Cost Carriers (lCC) and Legacy Airlines.
3. The above preconditions are ideals "devoutly to be wished" but they are not exactly low hanging fruits, especially the high speed rail. But one has already ripened and is not hanging too high to be brought down, and that is the NLEx/Skyway /SLEx connections. Its completion will also make the Terminal project (for the Budget Carriers, at least) for 7 million passengers viable .
An unsolicited offer for the NLEx/SLEx elevated expressway connector using the PNR alignment is now at the stage for a competitive challenge. The process should be allowed to continue without delay. The DPWH and DOTC are only making sure there is parallel ROW space either alongside or below the elevated expressway connector when the express train project pushes through.
But there is no question that the unsolicited offer qualifies under the BOT Law which requires that the offer involves a new concept (technology or design) and that it is not included in the Government's list of priority projects.The idea of utilizing the air space above the PNR alignment to connect NLEx and SLEx would only come from one who has keen interest in connecting the two expressways. Certainly, no bureaucrat in DPWH would have thought of including it in the list of priority projects. It is not surprising that it was MNTC, which operates the NLEx and soon the SCTEx, that submitted the unsolicited offer.
4. This elevated expressway connector would make travel for motorists between NAIA and DMIA, a distance of 100 kms, a mere 70 minutes instead of 2 or even 3 hours that it takes at present. It will also decongest EDSA and C5. While it won't be as fast as an express train, this would partly address the connectivity issue between the 2 airports. This was also the case for Haneda and Narita where for some 10 years only an expressway served as connection before the express rail was completed.
5. If awarded this year, this connector will be finished during the term of the President. By itself, the connector road is a game changer. On the other hand, the express train, whether on the Northrail alignment or on NLEx, will come way after the President's term. We support Sec Roxas' efforts to reconfigure the Northrail contract, and if done, the express train can run along the same track as the commuter trains.
I recall that when President Arroyo,for some reason, was being induced by certain parties to change the alignment of SCTEx so that it could be rebid, we told the President that the ROW was already bought by the Government and that if the alignment was changed to traverse directly through the mountains, not only it would be more costly because of the terrain, but another ECC will have to be secured so that there is no way she would be cutting the ribbon for the project. We all know that she cut the ribbon in the opening of the SCTEx.
6. Another ripening fruit, though not exactly low lying but reachable during President Aquino's term is the elevated monorail project that BCDA can do with the DOTC and MMDA for the CBDs of Taguig (Global City) and Pasay (Airport City) which are under the control of BCDA, and Makati. The monorail loop will connect with the MRT at EDSA, LRT at Taft and the PNR line at Osmena, thus virtually serving the 13 million population of Metro Manila. Tokyo's monorail that was constructed when it hosted the Olympics, still serves the City and runs through a few steps from the departure lounge of Haneda airport. Sydney, with 3.5 million people, has a monorail.
A concept study is now being done for an application for a feasibility study grant from JICA. Given the remaining years left of the President's term, this project can be completed, hopefully during his term.
This project is another game changer as it would address the traffic problems of the CBDs, connect them to the NAIA airports, and serve MegaManila as the LRT and MRT expands into Cavite and Rizal. It will be green as it will run on electricity but with no ugly dangling wires.
7.BCDA certainly has the institutional authority (RA 7227), the track record (SCTEx which has given birth to another PPP project- TPLEx), a professional organization and financial muscle (having unloaded the P34 B debt service burden for SCTEx to MNTC) to do and complete this project under the term of the President.
