Solon Blames Malls for Causing Traffic Jams on Highways

With the crippling traffic along EDSA and other roads in Metro Manila costing PHP3.5-billion a day in lost opportunities, Senator Richard J. Gordon has flared up at malls located along highways and roads that cause monstrous traffic jams.

"Traffic in Metro Manila continues to get worse, now it cost about PHP3.5-billion a day. Other cities in the country are now having traffic problems too. This problem is caused by the malls built by rapacious, greedy, avaricious, predatory and opportunistic people who take unfair advantage of the country's infrastructures and corrupt officials who allow them. If you notice, all malls are located in high traffic density areas," he said.

The Philippine office of the aid agency Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has reported that the worsening traffic in Metro Manila now costs PHP3.5 billion in lost opportunities per day, and highlighted the need for new and modern infrastructure to ease congestion.

However, Gordon said that to ease traffic, it is important to have a well-planned city with a proper land-use plan, with community centers, with malls and other recreation facilities, built in the middle of the townships and not along highways.

"It's about time that this country plans its cities right. In other countries, you cannot see malls along the highways--they are built in the middle of the town and people flocking to the malls do not cause traffic to grind to a halt. Dito sa atin, nasa tabi ng highway ang malls kaya ang traffic hindi umaandar. Dapat hindi pinapayagan na magtayo ng malls along highways and national roads," he said.