We’re at the Makati Shangri-La for the first ever Department of Information and Communications Technology Summit. The theme for the summit is “Implementing Telecommuting and ICT-Based Solutions to Mitigate Traffic Congestion Nationwide” and its starting off with a bang. After welcoming remarks from DICT Secretary, Rodolfo Salalima, Usec. Eliseo M. Rio Jr. swiftly took the stage to give an overview for today’s proceedings.
According to a study by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2014, Metro Manila loses P2.4 Billion on a daily basis due to the worsening traffic situation that cripples productivity, while our brothers and sisters in Cebu lose around P274 Million. Undersecretary Rio drives home the point that while our country definitely needs to improve on its infrastructure, we also need to improve on our infostructure to help aleviate traffic volume through the following ICT solutions:
- Telecommuting and Teleclasses
- Apps to Handle Small Groups
- ICT-Based Carpooling
- Enhance Online Services
- ICT-Based Traffic Situational Awareness
- ICT-Based Parking Management
- High-Speed Wi-Fi Zones on Congested Roads
Undersecretary Rio called for a collaborative effort in multiple sectors to help realize the potential of these ICT-Based solutions that seeks to ease Metro Manila traffic and the rest of the country plus make life for the Filipino people a little more convenient as well.
We’ll be covering the enitre Summit throughout the day, so stay tuned.