* This is my article in
BusinessWorld yesterday, May 06, 2019.
Metro Manila is expanding fast with 13+ million
residents, plus an estimated 2+ million from surrounding provinces going to the
big city for work, studies, other transactions. Big populations lead to big
economic opportunities but also big problems like heavy traffic congestion and
recently, insufficient potable water and power shortage.
Asia hosts among the biggest cities in the world, some of
which show that having a big population does not automatically means big
problems. Tokyo for instance has nearly 3x the population of Metro Manila but
people there do not experience horrible daily traffic congestion or water and
power shortage.
But most other big cities in Asia generally experience
what people in Metro Manila experience – like Delhi and Mumbai, Dhaka and
Chittagong, Karachi and Lahore, Jakarta and Bekasi.
Discussions of developing “smart cities” to distinguish
developing an entire country have surfaced in recent years. The purpose is to
narrow down policy reforms in smaller geographical areas so that program
implementation will be faster and more customized.
On this subject, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for
Freedom (FNF) is participating and hosting a panel discussion on “Smart Cities
and Startups — Opportunities for Business Innovation” at the huge, 3-day “Jeju
Forum for Peace and Prosperity” conference this coming May 29-31, 2019, at the
International Convention Center Jeju, South Korea.
The FNF panel will be on Day 2 (May 30) and its speakers
will explore challenges and opportunities that startup companies are facing and
discuss strategies to create enabling ecosystems where they can thrive. Policy
reforms would cover national and local regulatory framework, role of city
governments and policies or regulations to support business innovation of
startups, and drawing a line between freedom to innovate and freedom to privacy
in the use of open data.
Meanwhile a big group of local business organizations
(MAP, MBC, PCCI, PhilExport, etc.) and foreign chambers of commerce (US,
Canada, EU, Japan, Aus-NZ, Korea) have issued “Statement on Proposed Reforms
for the Philippine Water Sector” last April 22, 2019.
They pointed out two things among others and I agree with
them: (a) “The megacity’s overdependence on the sole Angat Dam for Metro
Manila’s water supply requirements has proven to be folly”, and (b) 20 years
water privatization has been successful. They proposed the following measures:
1. Fast-track the construction and development of new
water sources for Metro Manila.
2. Introduce water conservation and promote water
efficiency.
3. Develop a Water Security Masterplan for Metro Manila
and the entire country based on sound science and strengthen the National Water
Resources Board.
4. Rehabilitating the country’s wetlands, water bodies,
and supporting ecosystems.
Good proposals. I want to emphasize that our big problem
yearly is not lack of water but too much rain water, too much flood especially
during the months of July to September. But we do not have enough dams and
lakes to store the huge volume of water, they just go straight to the sea.
The private sector should be allowed and encouraged to
own private dams and man-made lakes, like mined-out big open pit mines. They
can use the raw water for their community and corporate needs, and sell water
to private water utilities and hydro-electric power plants. This should be
among the market-oriented reforms for efficiency (MORE) that can help “smart
cities” and business start ups so that these smaller units can prosper further.
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