MMDA’s new Command Center seen to help with traffic, flood management

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has inaugurated its new Communications and Command Center (CCC) in Pasig City. 

The MMDA's new Communications and Command Center

It is one of the most technologically advanced facilities of its kind in the Philippines. Several of its key functions is to enhance the agency’s capabilities in road emergency response, disaster response, traffic management, flood management, crisis response, and public safety. 

In line with the current government’s push for digitalization, the CCC is equipped with advanced technologies like a data center that is capable of housing up to 25 server racks for storing information. 

It will be linked to a massive network of CCTVs

The latter ties in with the facility's video wall system for its Flood Monitoring Information Center (FCIC) and Effective Flood Control Operation System (EFCOS) which will use CCTV cameras positioned in various areas of the city. 

According to the MMDA, around 403 CCTV will be put up in key locations. Specific places mentioned are MMDA pumping stations, busways, waterways, and the Manila Baywalk Dolomite Beach. 

About 600 meanwhile, are currently being installed along major roads in the National Capital Region (NCR), while 166 cameras with data analytics capabilities are being put up along the EDSA Bus Carousel route. All of these are connected to the CCC via a fiber optic network of which 899,239 meters were already laid down across the Metro. 

The CCC will enable the MMDA to better manage floods and other emergency situations

Another technology that will aid the MMDA in its operations is the Hytera Radio Smart Dispatch System. It features a built-in global positioning system (GPS) and it is able to locate traffic enforces via a digital map in real-time. It is also able to communicate with other radio users and distribute crucial messages and relay tasks and instructions quickly during an emergency situation. 

In the future, the MMDA says that it will add around 45 kilometers of fiber optic cables. This will enable the agency to integrate various local government units’ own CCTVs. The agency is likewise planning to procure artificial intelligence (AI) technology for automated vehicle identification, and facial recognition capabilities. Plans for a mobile command center with its own satellite internet and CCTV monitoring system are likewise in the works. 

In the future, the MMDA will use AI technology

Regarding the establishment of the CCC, MMDA Acting Chairman Atty. Don Artes said that all of these (the technologies and the facility) are “anchored by the agency’s sworn duty to give an effective and efficient service to the public for a more progressive and thriving Metro Manila.”

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