Davao City eyes new transport system for near 1M commuters daily

 

DAVAO CITY –A city councilor here said the city gave the green signal to firm up options on a sustainable transport system after a Japan-funded study found a messed up transportation network where some high-density areas were found to have few public transport to serve them.

Councilor Leonardo Avila III said initial study showed that an average of 800,000 persons commute daily in the city, whose public transport routes were found to overlap in certain areas, but mainly in the poblacion area, and leaving 51 barangays with either poor transport service or non at all.

Avila said that the City Council would wait for the final result of the sustainable urban transport study, the brief of which was presented to the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and industry and other private parties on September 30 at the Marco Polo Hotel here.

The study listed three sets of “challenges” confronting decision-makers in the city government, some issues of which involved important policy structures, such as the land use policy, infrastructure and allocation of financial resources.

It found out that the “large number of vehicles [are] difficult to regulate or manage, and is often the cause of traffic congestion”. The city has a total number of vehicles reaching 15,115, of which the jeepneys and Filcab, or the small-sized multicabs (7,278), taxi (3,602) and motorized tricycles (3,105) were regulated by the city, and the buses (664) and airconditioned vans (466) were regulated by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Land Transportation Office.

The overlapping routes of these vehicles have turned many poblacion streets into difficult traffic gridlock as drivers compete for passengers and block or slow down traffic flow, and leave some high density residential areas with few public vehicles, such as those in the Toril area.

In its presentation, proponents of the study said that in the southwesternmost district of Toril, 21 barangays have poor public transport service and another 20 barangays have not been served by jeepneys.

It said that this was a case of a poorly served or unserved high-density area, with 412,000 residents, comprising a third of the proposed concentrated urbanized area in the western side of the city.

Avila said that at certain hours of the day, one third of the 800,000 commuters could not find a ride for as long as three hours of waiting. He said this happens during the evening rush hours.

And recently with the regular rains that send floods to the major thoroughfares, a bigger number of commuters would be seen waiting for hours to take a ride as the Filcabs, or the multicabs, either opt to go home or get their vehicles stuck in waist-deep waters.

Avila said that options for a proposed transportation system include buses along major routes and establishing a bicycle lane to cut reliance on fossil fuels.

“What’s clear with the study is that it tells us that it is already time to do something,” he said.

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PHL major utility companies await bid for Davao City's P10 B surface water extraction

DAVAO CITY - The country's powerhouse in water utility operations have indicated their interest to bid for this city's water extraction project that would double the existing water production for one fo the country's fastest growing city.

Among the companies that participated an April roadshow this year were the Maynilad of Manuel V. Pangilinan, the Manila Water of the Ayala group, the MacroAsia of Lucio Tan, the Prime Water of former Sen. Manny Villar, and the DMCI of the Consunji group.  A Korean company, K Water, also participated in the roadshow.

Imelda Magsusi, spokesperson of the DAvao City Water District, said another Manila-based group, the Jose Virgilio Angeles, was the only company that offered an "unsolicited" proposal on how to develop a viable extraction operation of the still pristine Tamugan River up north of this city to augment the drinking water production.

"All these companies, and othe minor ones, attended our roadshow and they all indicated to participate in the bidding," she said.

The DCWD has eyed an extraction operation in the Tamugan River more than 70 kilometers north of downtown, and where it flows in the still remote hinterlands. Its project proposal would want to extract a minimum of 280,000 cubic meters of water per day, slightly more than double the current production of its 52 wells.

Its current production however, was already considered sufficient for the population at the 2011 level, which was estimated to be around 1.3 million residents. A 2008 report of the city said that the population was already 1.5 million, a figure that still ranked the city the fourth populous city after Quezon City, Manila and  Caloocan.

"Current production is already not sufficient anymore. So we have to embark on this project," she told a news briefing here on Monday.

She said that DCWD has clarified with the interested bidders that it wanted a joint venture agreement along the government concept of a private-public partnership.

She said though that the bidding would have to wait for the final decision of the Office of the Government Corporate Council, the governing body of all government-owned and controlled corporations. She said though, that the OGCC has indicated it wanted the 2008 guideline of the National Economic Deverlopment Authority to govern the bidding process. Under the guideline, bidders are required to match the bid amount per cubic meter.

Magsuci said that the agency wanted the bidding to be finished this year to start the construction that would take another three years. "Our timetable is for the project to start operating by 2017," she said.

The JVA proposal, for instance, has indicated that it would initially start producing 250,000 cubic meter per day and to increase it later.

"We would like to rest the extraction at the Dumoy aquifers to allow it to recharge," she said. The Dumoy area account for 36 of the 52 drilling wells in the city, and its underground water has landed the city as having the second best tasting water in the world.

She said that upon start of the Tamugan River extraction, six of the Dumoy wells would be stopped, and to be followed by the remaining 30 wells. The wells would only resume production in 2025, with the resumption of the six wells, and followed by the 30 wells in 2035.

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Davao City Water District to conduct P19 M-ground water assessment

DAVAO CITY – The Davao City Water District approved for commissioning of a study to evaluate the ground water of the city, to equp the agency with scientific baseline information on utilizing and recharging the city’s aquifers.

Imelda Magsuci, spokesperson of DCWD, said the agency wanted the study to start early next year to allow it a head start on another separate water extraction project that would tap the river water in the northern hinterland of Tamugan.

The water extraction project would rest extraction of ground waters in the Dumoy district, south of downtown. The Dumoy waters supply the main drinking water need of Davao City, but critics have already voiced concern on the wasteful habits of resident, including the use of drinking water to hose out soil and dirt of household garage, and pathways of houses.

Magsuci said the study would like to know the water balance in the Dumoy area, simulate the ground water condition and the rate an incident of contamination would happen.

The study would cost P19 million and last 18 months,

She said that there were already proponents who indicated their interest to bid.

The DCWD produces almost 280,000 cubic meters per day and a separate project would involve the extraction of the still pristine waters of Tamugan River in the remote northern hinterland of the city. The project would produce a minimum of 280,000 cubic meters per day to meet the increasing demand of potable water.

The project would cost P10 billion and would be expected to be operational by 2017, where the pumping wells in the Dumoy area would be rested for the next eight years.

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Tagum City tries PHL’s first synchronized purok elections

DAVAO CITY – The city of palm in the Davao Region would embark on the country’s first real and synchronized elections in the purok level, inspired by the successful barangay elections on Monday (October 28).

Cromwell Bonghanoy, chief information officer of Tagum City, said the city government has already ask the Commission on Elections to confer and guide the newly elected set of barangay officials on how to conduct a coordinated and simultaneous elections in the level of the puroks, and how to constitute the set of election officers.

A purok normally is composed of a purok chairperson and seven members of the purok council.

“But the practice in the Philippines commonly redounds to appointments by the barangay officials. No election would happen in the puroks,” Bonghanoy told BusinessMirror on Tuesday.

Tagum City, 53 kilometers north of here, has 23 barangays and more than 400 puroks.

So far, only Tagum City would ever embark on a real elections in the level of the puroks, “with filing of candidacies [on November 4-8], a campaign period [November 11-16], and a designated election day”, he added.

The city previously allow the puroks to designate their own set of leaders “but usually, it would be the barangay officials who appoint them”.

“This loses the essence of a real democracy where people elect their own preferred leaders,” he said.

Last week, City Mayor Allan Rellon designated the purok election day on November 17, two weeks from the previously designated November 3.  Voting would be done from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Bonghanoy said that Rellon designed a synchronized elections down to the puroks, to ensure that “the people’s will are really expressed down to the selection of the purok leaders that would represent them in the barangays”.

Bonghanoy said that the Comelec and the barangay officials would be expected to come up with the final blueprint on how to conduct the purok elections, with one option already floated around that the barangay may constitute its own Comelec body to oversee the elections.

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Plebiscite for a 4th Davao province shows favorable lead

DAVAO CITY – Early turnout of votes in Monday’s (October 28) barangay elections to ratify the creation of Mindanao’s 27^th province in Davao del Sur got a comfortable lead in the canvassing.

As of 4:00 pm Tuesday, official but partial result of the canvassing of plebiscite returns showed that 105,254 voters favor the creation of a Davao Occidental province, to be carved out from the southern municipalities of Davao del Sur.

A third of this number, or 39,453 votes, were cast against its creation.

The result was generated from the canvassed returns of nine municipalities, including from the capital of Digos City, 60 kilometers south of here.

Only six municipalities, five of them within the proposed new province, were not yet canvassed.

The plebiscite was contained in the ballot for the election of barangay elections last Monday, in a form of a question on whether or not the voter would approve of the Davao Occidental province.

The proposal, House Bill 4451, was authored by then Reps. Franklin Bautista and Marc Douglas Cagas, each belonging to bitter rival political families. It was passed as Republic Act 10360 creating the province but to be subject to a plebiscite.

The new province would be carved out from the southern municipalities of Santa Maria, Malita, Don Marcelino, Jose Abad Santos and Sarangani. When ratified, Davao del Sur and Davao Occidental would have one legislative district each.

Davao del Sur belongs to the Davao Region, which is also comprised by Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley and Davao City.

The following towns voted (yes-no) in the plebiscite: Bansalan (10,172 - 3,544), Hagonoy (9,853 – 4,208), Magsaysay (10,961 – 2,528), Padada (5,315 - 3,790), Santa Cruz (15,272 – 5,025), Malalag (9,792 -

2,408), Santa Maria (7,327 – 3,318), Sulop (6,936 – 1,335) and Digos City (29,626 – 13,297).

Plebiscite returns were not yet canvassed from the municipalities of Matanao, Don Marcelino, Malita, Jose Abad Santos and Kiblawan.