Councilor Conrado Baluran, chairperson of the Committee on Transportation and Communications, criticized on Tuesday the survey made by international traffic surveyor TomTom Traffic Index (TTI) ranking Davao City as the 8th most congested city worldwide, surpassing Metro Manila which ranked 14th place.
“This statement from TTI in its entirety is totally unfair, out of context, and beyond rational proportion,” Baluran said in his privileged speech.
According to the survey of TTI, among 500 cities they surveyed worldwide, Davao City placed number 8th among the worst where it took almost 45 minutes average travel time for the residents for every 10 kilometers in the city capital, which is equivalent to 136 hours economic lost yearly.
“Yes indeed, Davao City has its traffic woes and problems as every urbanized city does considering that we are one of the fast-paced cities progresses in terms of economic growth index in the world,” Baluran said.
Baluran cited the report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) that for two consecutive years (2023 and 2024) Davao City had the fastest economic growth in the country, accounting for over half of Davao Region’s P1.02 trillion gross domestic product (GDP).
“The PSA in its report categorically rebutted this reckless report by TTI because common sense will tell us, that if you’re a multi-national company or even local businessmen, why would you invest in Davao City if the actual business feasibility study on traffic situation is in worst condition when they knew that a lost time is a lost profit,” he said.
Baluran added that inevitably, Davao City experiences light to moderate traffic during rush hour, and sometimes heavy traffic when there are roadworks and accidents but to tag Davao City as one of the worst worldwide is unacceptable.
“For us Dabawenyos, this is an irresponsible newscasting with an alleged intention to blacken the image of our city. And to say, worse than Metro Manila? What were the parameters they were using to conclude such a reckless report?” Baluran said.
Baluran requested the City Transport and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO), Department of Public Works and Highways 11 (DPWH 11), and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board 11 (LTFRB 11) to be invited in the next regular session to give updates of their latest progress in traffic condition of Davao City, unfinished roadworks, and the lack of public transport vehicles for public commuters.
“For the sake of fairness and transparency,” he said.
