[sustran] car free day in Manila? Dream on

Heckler heckler at quickweb.com.ph
Thu Jan 20 23:21:23 JST 2000


For those of you who remember the letter that the Philippine NGO Sustainable
Transport Network sent to Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman
Jejomar Binay endorsing his proposal for a carfree day in Metro Manila,
hereunder is his verbatim reply (and uncommented as well).

Dear Mr. Fernan:

Thank you so much for your very encouraging letter of October 18, 1999. It
was such a welcome respite from the barrage of criticism we received, ever
since the plan to hold car-less days in Metro Manila saw print in several
newspapers.

I do not want to dampen your enthusiasm, but lest you be led to prematurely
entertain expectations on the proximity of the plan's implementation, I
would like to inform you that it is still under study.

Allow me just the same to clarify that this was not primarily intended as a
traffic management scheme. It was born out of our concern for the
improvemenet of Metro Manila's air shed. As you and your group may well
know, Metro Manila, with a vehicle density of 435 vehicles per kilometer of
road is already the 9th most polluted metropolis among the 40 best cities in
Asia and 70 percent of its air pollutants is accounted to vehicular
emissions.

Admittedly, it will take sometime before the plan can be implemented as this
is dependent on the existence of an efficient mass transport system. And if
it is any positive sign, this requirement has already been started to be put
in place by the government.

Again, thank you very much and we look forward to your continued support.

Very truly yours,

Jejomar C. Binay
Chairman




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