Rivers and riverbanks as transport highways
Rivers and riverbanks as transport highways
Updated 02:25am (Mla time) Oct 04, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the October 4, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
(Continued from last Wednesday)
DO you realize that we have so many problems because our policies are topsy-turvy? We have monopolies and oligopolies where there should be free enterprise: in the cement, oil, power, pharmaceutical and steel industries. And we have free enterprise where there should be government control: in land transportation, especially in Metro Manila.
There is anarchy in the streets of the metropolis because any Tom, Dick and Harry can buy a jeepney, bus, FX van or tricycle, bribe somebody at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board or city hall to get a franchise, and let the vehicle loose on the roads. Anybody can buy a vehicle, park it on the street and nobody gives a s--t even if it contributes to traffic congestion. In Tokyo, you cannot buy a vehicle unless you can show a title to a garage or parking slot. In New York, you cannot park your car just anywhere.
You can erect your shanty on railroad tracks, or occupy train stations and make them your home and even convert them into commercial establishments (e.g, billiard halls), and the government will even sell the rail tracks right of way to you.
There are too many vehicles on the streets because foreign-owned car and motorcycle assemblers pour thousands of units out to the streets every year, but practically none is phased out.
Too many vehicles and too few streets, that's the big problem.
Yet there are alternatives to roadways staring us in the face but nobody sees them. In an earlier column, I mentioned the railroad which the Arroyo administration wants to phase out in Metro Manila. Yet we need effective mass transit systems to transport people.
And then there are the rivers and the seas that used to be our highways before we fell in love with the motor vehicle. It is surprising that the Philippines, an archipelago surrounded by water, pays so little attention to water transportation.
Not so long ago, commerce moved along the coasts and on the rivers on board barges, sailboats and bancas. Passenger ferries of the Magsaysay Lines were operating along the Pasig River, but they did not become popular because they were too small and too low in the water, and the passengers could smell the polluted water and did not feel safe in them.
The Pasig River is still a good highway. It is still used to transport oil and other products upriver on board barges. So why not try the passenger ferry system on the river again with better boats? Ferries used to transport guests at Disney World in Florida. They are just right for the Pasig River. They have a shallow draft so they won't run aground. They need only to be air conditioned so their passengers won't smell the stinky water. They will help immensely in relieving land traffic in Metro Manila.
All the world's great rivers in the biggest cities are being used as water highways. The Rhine, the Seine and the Volga in Europe, the Mississippi (United States), the Nile (Egypt) and the Amazon (South America) are not only highways but great tourist attractions. Thailand uses its rivers as much as its streets.
As a boy I remember watching, from the banks of the Tullahan-Tenejeros River, cascos loaded with vinegar, salt, nipa shingles and other products from Bulacan being poled downriver to the markets of Malabon, Navotas, Caloocan and Manila. We swam and played in this river in the old days. It used to feed the fishponds of Malabon and Bulacan with fresh seawater from Manila Bay. It is now an open cesspool because of the pollutants from the factories and squatters that line its banks. This is the same river that floods Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela during high tide.
I understand that a dike will be constructed along the riverbanks to keep the high tide out. The top of the dikes on both banks of the river might as well be constructed to also serve as new roads from Bulacan to Manila Bay. There are very few roads-and very narrow ones, at that-in Malabon. The dikes will give the people a new route to Bulacan. The MacArthur Highway is already too congested.
And if the river traffic is revived, people can travel to and from Bulacan on ferries, instead of on crowded buses and jeepneys, and arrive at their destinations relaxed, cool and fresh. The same ferries can go up the Pasig River and to the isolated coastal towns of Laguna Lake. And on Manila Bay, passengers can transfer to ferries bound for Cavite and Bataan. Thus, the coastal road, the Aguinaldo Highway and the highway to Bataan will be relieved of much traffic.
The easements on both banks of the Pasig River can also be turned into one-way streets from Manila Bay to Laguna de Bay, thus adding two more streets in Metro Manila. This will give street frontage to the lots along the river, thus increasing their value. Right now, the lots are just the backyards of the factories and lined with squatter shanties.
In Sydney, Australia, the banks of the river, from downtown Sydney to the sea, are lined with streets. The most expensive residences can be found along these streets.
And there are ferries coming from downtown to take residents home. You can watch a concert at the Opera House, board the ferry at midnight and arrive home in half an hour.
The development of river highways will have many other advantages: factories can no longer throw their garbage and liquid effluents into the river; squatters can no longer build their shanties on riverbanks; the rivers will be clean again; property values will rise, and local government units can collect more real estate taxes.
Updated 02:25am (Mla time) Oct 04, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the October 4, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
(Continued from last Wednesday)
DO you realize that we have so many problems because our policies are topsy-turvy? We have monopolies and oligopolies where there should be free enterprise: in the cement, oil, power, pharmaceutical and steel industries. And we have free enterprise where there should be government control: in land transportation, especially in Metro Manila.
There is anarchy in the streets of the metropolis because any Tom, Dick and Harry can buy a jeepney, bus, FX van or tricycle, bribe somebody at the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board or city hall to get a franchise, and let the vehicle loose on the roads. Anybody can buy a vehicle, park it on the street and nobody gives a s--t even if it contributes to traffic congestion. In Tokyo, you cannot buy a vehicle unless you can show a title to a garage or parking slot. In New York, you cannot park your car just anywhere.
You can erect your shanty on railroad tracks, or occupy train stations and make them your home and even convert them into commercial establishments (e.g, billiard halls), and the government will even sell the rail tracks right of way to you.
There are too many vehicles on the streets because foreign-owned car and motorcycle assemblers pour thousands of units out to the streets every year, but practically none is phased out.
Too many vehicles and too few streets, that's the big problem.
Yet there are alternatives to roadways staring us in the face but nobody sees them. In an earlier column, I mentioned the railroad which the Arroyo administration wants to phase out in Metro Manila. Yet we need effective mass transit systems to transport people.
And then there are the rivers and the seas that used to be our highways before we fell in love with the motor vehicle. It is surprising that the Philippines, an archipelago surrounded by water, pays so little attention to water transportation.
Not so long ago, commerce moved along the coasts and on the rivers on board barges, sailboats and bancas. Passenger ferries of the Magsaysay Lines were operating along the Pasig River, but they did not become popular because they were too small and too low in the water, and the passengers could smell the polluted water and did not feel safe in them.
The Pasig River is still a good highway. It is still used to transport oil and other products upriver on board barges. So why not try the passenger ferry system on the river again with better boats? Ferries used to transport guests at Disney World in Florida. They are just right for the Pasig River. They have a shallow draft so they won't run aground. They need only to be air conditioned so their passengers won't smell the stinky water. They will help immensely in relieving land traffic in Metro Manila.
All the world's great rivers in the biggest cities are being used as water highways. The Rhine, the Seine and the Volga in Europe, the Mississippi (United States), the Nile (Egypt) and the Amazon (South America) are not only highways but great tourist attractions. Thailand uses its rivers as much as its streets.
As a boy I remember watching, from the banks of the Tullahan-Tenejeros River, cascos loaded with vinegar, salt, nipa shingles and other products from Bulacan being poled downriver to the markets of Malabon, Navotas, Caloocan and Manila. We swam and played in this river in the old days. It used to feed the fishponds of Malabon and Bulacan with fresh seawater from Manila Bay. It is now an open cesspool because of the pollutants from the factories and squatters that line its banks. This is the same river that floods Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela during high tide.
I understand that a dike will be constructed along the riverbanks to keep the high tide out. The top of the dikes on both banks of the river might as well be constructed to also serve as new roads from Bulacan to Manila Bay. There are very few roads-and very narrow ones, at that-in Malabon. The dikes will give the people a new route to Bulacan. The MacArthur Highway is already too congested.
And if the river traffic is revived, people can travel to and from Bulacan on ferries, instead of on crowded buses and jeepneys, and arrive at their destinations relaxed, cool and fresh. The same ferries can go up the Pasig River and to the isolated coastal towns of Laguna Lake. And on Manila Bay, passengers can transfer to ferries bound for Cavite and Bataan. Thus, the coastal road, the Aguinaldo Highway and the highway to Bataan will be relieved of much traffic.
The easements on both banks of the Pasig River can also be turned into one-way streets from Manila Bay to Laguna de Bay, thus adding two more streets in Metro Manila. This will give street frontage to the lots along the river, thus increasing their value. Right now, the lots are just the backyards of the factories and lined with squatter shanties.
In Sydney, Australia, the banks of the river, from downtown Sydney to the sea, are lined with streets. The most expensive residences can be found along these streets.
And there are ferries coming from downtown to take residents home. You can watch a concert at the Opera House, board the ferry at midnight and arrive home in half an hour.
The development of river highways will have many other advantages: factories can no longer throw their garbage and liquid effluents into the river; squatters can no longer build their shanties on riverbanks; the rivers will be clean again; property values will rise, and local government units can collect more real estate taxes.
posted by Dante at 2:25 AM
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