MANILA - The government remained optimistic that it could complete enough infrastructure projects to attain the 5-minute travel time from Cubao in Quezon City to Makati City by December, a public works official said Wednesday.

Several infrastructure projects in Metro Manila are set to be completed this year which are expected to decongest EDSA, making the 5-minute travel time “doable,” said ‘Build, Build, Build’ inter-agency committee chair Anna Lamentillo.

“We are working towards the 5-minute challenge… This is doable,” she told reporters.

‘Build, Build, Build’ interagency committee chair Anna Lamentillo says 5-minute travel time from Makati-Cubao still ‘doable’ by December 2019 @ABSCBNNews pic.twitter.com/mkXBiblNBq

— Arianne Merez (@arianne_merez) August 7, 2019

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said that travel between Cubao to Makati could be reduced to 5 minutes, from the current travel time of at least an hour, by yearend.

• Cubao to Makati in 5 mins? Duterte says just wait

The government planned to decongest EDSA this year through opening a portion of the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3, and a section of the NLEX Harbor Link.

The recent opening of a portion of the C5 South Link which connects the cities of Taguig and Pasay also aids traffic management in the main thoroughfare, Lamentillo said.

“We are not just effectively decongesting traffic today, we want to effectively create a transportation network in Manila that will aid us in the future,” she said.

With the new roads, Lamentillo said vehicle volume in EDSA is expected to go down at the end of the year.