Analysis and Opinion

By JoeAm

PAREX is the Pasig River Expressway, a Build Build Build project granted to San Miguel Corporation (SMC) under a Toll Operations Agreement with the Duterte Government. Critics abound, mostly environmentalists, some disliking privileged car drivers, and some objecting to the rushed administrative process.

I took up a pro-SMC position on FB and Twitter and boy did I get an earful. I had to mute 3 complainants and I stoked a "Jesus Christ" retort from MLQ3 when I said his description "paving over the river" was emotionalized nonsense.

It was an informative discussion.

Let me just bullet-point a few of the more meaningful lessons arising from the discussion.

  • The approval process, about one year, was very fast and did not provide for thorough public feedback.
  • The Pasig is an estuary flowing both directions and is not completely biologically dead, but it's a mess.
  • It's been that way for 75 years and people's fondness for the river never rises to the point of Government spending the big money needed to fix it.
  • SMC will spend the big money to build the elevated road and improve the river, and get the money back from tolls.
  • A lot of Filipinos don't like the elitism of self-absorbed, rich, toll-paying car drivers.
  • The Pasig River right of way is a HUGE value, a monster asset, allowing east-west passage without negotiating and buying property rights from businesses and residents.
  • A car road is not the highest and best use of the people's right-of-way, nor is a near-dead river; a train would be highest and best use of that valuable asset.
  • Many people see the Pasig as a national monument; an expressway above it is like putting a freeway up Mt Rushmore under George Washington's nose (photo above).
  • Japan's bullet train past Mt Fuji or Sydney's Harbor Bridge illustrate that man's progress can be inspirational, if done right.
  • SMC got stuck with having to correct government's rush job, muffing it's choice of architect and receiving screams from anguished citizens.
  • None of the anguished citizens has a practical way to help unblock traffic today; they speak of master plans, mass transit, and a future not in our lifetime.
  • Duterte/Tugade are wasting a valuable resource in what appears to be a rush to leave a Build Build Build success to their legacy; they are over-trying.

My conclusion? Kill the expressway. Put a train above the river. Fix the river. Let it flow. Make it a masterpiece of biking, hiking, parks, and dining. Give citizens something to be proud of.

SMC can do that, I'm confident. The economics will work.

Oh, and anticipate the need control the flows as seas rise and storms dump huge amounts of water on Manila.

______________

Photo of Mt Rushmore from history.com