The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has submitted for Senate review a 64-page document listing specific projects in addition to a draft bill granting President Rodrigo Duterte emergency powers to address the transportation crisis.
Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, which is holding hearings on the government petition for emergency powers, said the Senate is eyeing to grant Duterte emergency powers before the Christmas rush.
The DOTr plan included 21 transport-related projects to be undertaken by the executive branch if granted expanded powers.
DOTr’s version of an emergency powers bill seeking a three-year grant of the expanded authority for the President to speed up infrastructure projects and other initiatives to decongest traffic in Metro Manila and other key cities, was also part of the documents submitted to the Senate.
The DOTr proposals were received on September 2, a week after the agency was asked to detail its plans before another hearing on the emergency powers is set.
Poe said DOTr’s proposals include projects for the road, rail, and air transport sectors; details on establishing a single authority to manage traffic; expediting procurement processes for transportation projects; limiting the filing of temporary restraining orders and injunctions with the Supreme Court; exempting key transportation projects from restrictive audit rules; expediting expropriation process for right-of-way acquisitions; and reorganizing the DOTr to provide enough manpower to implement projects.
The draft bill on emergency powers, meanwhile, states that contracts executed by the executive branch, including information on the qualifications of contractors and budgetary estimates, must be published on a website.
It also calls for a congressional oversight committee to be composed of five members each from the Senate and from the House of Representatives.
Hearings on Senate bills filed seeking emergency powers to enable the government to address Metro Manila’s transportation and traffic woes will resume on September 22, Poe said.
To prepare for the full-blown hearing on September 22, the senator said the public services committee is continuing technical working group meetings to consult stakeholders, seek their suggestions, and check if they were properly consulted by DOTr in crafting the proposal for emergency powers.
Poe does not see any hurdle to the approval of the emergency powers measure by the Senate, as her colleagues have expressed support for giving such authority to President Rodrigo Duterte, provided enough safeguards are installed to prevent possible abuse. DOTr is the lead agency to implement these projects once emergency powers are granted.
Image courtesy of cooldesign at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
