Trivia no. 20: Pasig River Expressway (PAREX), and the revival or death of Pasig River

Lee Bulus
20 Sep 2020

Pasig River Expressway (PAREX), and the revival, or death of Pasig River

Pasig River, Manila’s ancient natural highway, the prime trade route of old and new Manila and the “River Seine” of Pacific as envisioned by Daniel Burnham and the pride of urban renewal of the metropolis will undergo a possible major change, an elevated highway directly over the river.

Running 19 kilometers from the coast of Manila Bay to the shores of Laguna Lake, Pasig River Expressway is envisioned to be an East-West bypass road for the metropolis and will help the decongestion of the metropolis’ major roads.

The expressway will be divided into 3 segments:
• Segment 1 (R-10 to Plaza Azul) – 5.74 kilometers.
• Plaza Azul to San Juan River (Metro Manila Skyway segment 3) – 2.70 kms.
• Segment 2 (San Juan River to C5 Intersection) – 7.325 kms.
• Segment 3 (C5 Intersection – C6 Intersection)- 6.30 kms.

The project was earlier approved in principle by members of the Toll Regularort Board last 29th of June, 2020 with estimated project cost of P95.413-billion.

Estimated project implementation period is 36 months, and gonna be built and operated by San Miguel Holdings Corporation with joint venture with Philippine National Construction Corporation.

Will this elevated highway project help the revival and rebirth of Pasig River? The answer is no! It will just worsen the river’s situation. It will make the river dark under concrete dystopian structure. It will destroy the already reviving ecosystem the river, thus the river will die again.

Also it will ruin the heritage value of old Manila’s downtown structures and bridges such as Intramuros; Jones, McArthur, Quezon and Ayala Bridges which will also ruin the urban renewal efforts of the city.

Many elevated highways across the globe are being demolished and converted an underground one to gave way for an urban renewal, great examples for this are the Seoul’s Cheonggyecheon, Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct Tunnel replacement and San Francisco’s Embarcadero Freeway (converted into an esplanade).

Underground highways are also a trend in many urban centers such as Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, and Istanbul to avoid the dense neighborhoods above and avoiding demolitions. With this trends, why not make PAREX and underground expressway on the banks of the river instead of elevated one.

Though more expensive than the elevated, underground expressway can save Pasig River’s heritage and also act as a flood tunnel (similar to Kuala Lumpur’s SMART Tunnel).

Infrastructure project such as PAREX is good for the country’s development, but we must plan these infrastructures carefully so that it can balance the development, heritage, and nature.

Text by Lee Bulus
Illustration by Andrei Alejandro, Renacimiento Manila
All Rights Reserved.

Source:
fb . com/13 0406 4904 31829 /posts /1774 70852 2668 276/
esquirem ag . ph/money /indus try/san- miguel- pasig-ri ver-ex pres sway-new -slex-t oll-ro ad-a0 0289- 2020 0806