PAREX: A Problem or Solution

Is this the sustainable solution the country needs?

rendering of the proposed Pasig River Expressway via ABS-CBN News

Metro Manila is labeled as “the worst traffic in Southeast Asia” based on the 2015 Global Satisfaction conducted by Waze. Hence, it is understandable why the government would be eager to build more and more roads, expressways, and infrastructures. Being an efficient tool that connects people to different places and helps businesses flow throughout the country, it’s definitely worth the attention. However, are these roads and infrastructures the sustainable solution this country needs?

In the Philippines, in early 2020, San Miguel Corporation proposed the Pasig Expressway Project (PAREx)— a 19.37-km elevated expressway that recently received approval from the government with a fund of P95 billion. It is said to improve the traffic on public highways. The goal of this project is to establish a faster way of traveling by connecting the eastern and western portions of Manila in hopes to lessen the traffic volume and provide a safe and reliable infrastructure for the country’s transport system.

While this project plans on solving travel issues and finally providing us with an accessible transport system, a coin always has two sides. It focuses on mitigating the traffic, yet it turns a blind eye to the additional effects it will cause. Therefore, it is not practical considering the worsening ecosystem of the Pasig River. Contrary to its desire to reduce traffic, PAREx will most likely just make congestion worse. Instead of ensuring inclusive and sustainable transportation as a public utility, the government resorts to building more roads exhibiting their overwhelming reliance on the private sector for public transit. Privatization has resulted in insufficient public vehicles for the ever-growing population which leads us to buy our own vehicles and thus further contributing to traffic congestion.

The government will probably give its full support without agonizing over the budget as San Miguel Corporation shoulders the funds needed to build the project and the debt of the country balloons to almost P12 trillion due to the current pandemic.

More vehicles would mean an increase in toxic air pollutants which would add up to the production of greenhouse gases.

Move as One Coalition is a group of people that oppose the PAREx Project and have cited great points on why it should be carefully contemplated before pushing through the project. More vehicles would mean an increase in toxic air pollutants which would add up to the production of greenhouse gases. As if the Pasig River isn't already biologically dead, this project will destroy Pasig River’s ecology further making it impossible to revive according to urban planner Paulo Alcazaren in an interview on One News. However, the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, which was dissolved by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019 after its 20-year existence, has studies that contain before and after parameters that show significant improvements in its rehabilitation.

. . .more roads lead to more traffic, eloquently, more vehicles to cause air pollution.

As per the concept of “induced demand” in urbanism, it states there that more roads lead to more traffic, eloquently, more vehicles to cause air pollution. In this way, PAREx will not actually ease the traffic congestion in Metro Manila. Nevertheless, PAREx is assumed to facilitate access to central business districts like Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig City, Makati City, and Ortigas in Pasig City. Elicited from the “induced demand” mentioned above, increasing roadways will result in more traffic congestions such as the importing and exporting of goods from business districts to other districts. Subsequently, there would be delays in the business field.

Overlooking the larger effects it may cause, SMC continues to insist that the PAREx Project is critical towards the improvement of public transportation and public commute in Metro Manila. The project is said to "combine sustainability features with the functionality of a safe and efficient transport infrastructure that the country is sorely lacking in.", according to SMC president Ramon Ang.

PAREx is assumed to be a good start for urban planning by increasing roadways for businesses and having more roads in the said district. However, the pollution that this will cause has a greater negative effect than the project’s betterment. Indeed, the government shall make our people and the environment a priority by investing a hefty amount of the budget in more sustainable solutions for transportation issues. In giving life to the Pasig River Expressway, we are sentencing the Pasig River to its death.