Newly-appointed Department of Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon vowed to expedite big-ticket transportation infrastructure projects, despite reports indicating that these projects may not be completed within the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“Our objective is simple: speed up and fix our transportation systems to make them safe,” Dizon said.
“We have to fast-track all the ongoing projects of the past administrations and also start the projects that are in the pipeline,” he said.
Dizon said that while there are hurdles to achieving this objective such as right-of-way issues, a whole-of-nation approach should be implemented to harmonize solutions to complete big-ticket projects.
“With all the infrastructure projects that have been done, those problems are already there. Right-of-way first. The right-of-way, the solution to that will not only come from the DOTr,” Dizon said.
“We have to work together. What is really needed here is a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach. All our partners need to understand that they need to contribute to the projects we need to make,” he said.
An ABS-CBN report indicated that a Department of Justice (DOJ) legal opinion prompted the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to halt right-of-way (ROW) acquisition.
The agency’s mega infrastructure projects in the pipeline include the New Cebu International Container Port, Manila Bay-Pasig River-Laguna Lake Ferry River System Project.
Major railway projects include the Metro Manila Subway, North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR), MRT-7, LRT-1 Cavite Extension, Unified Grand Central Station and MRT-3 Rehabilitation. In the pipeline are Mindanao Railway Project, MRT-4 and PNR South Long Haul.
Under the road sector, the DOTr is pushing for the expansion of the active transport program and EDSA Busway Project. The agency also continues to push for the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP).
