The Bacolod Metropolitan Area, simply known as Metro Bacolod, is the 8th-most populous and the 6th-most densely populated metropolitan area out of the 12 metropolitan areas in the Philippines. This metropolitan area as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority has an estimated population of 791,019 inhabitants as of the 2015 official census by the Philippine Statistics Authority. The metropolitan area is centered on Bacolod, the provincial capital, and the component cities of Silay and Talisay, all three cities located in the province of Negros Occidental. As of 2005, Metro Bacolod has relatively high GDP shares, contributed ₱88,056,250 or about 7.3% of the country's gross domestic product. Metro Bacolod is among those identified by the National Framework for Physical Planning: 2001–2030 as one of the country’s industrial, financial and technological centers. It is ranked 4th among the six regions in terms of GDP contributions in 2005. However, under the initiative of the Bacolod City Government, the definition has been expanded to include the City of Bago and Municipality of Murcia, bring the total population to 1,043,286 based on the 2015 official census of the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Cities
All of the cities of Metro Bacolod are located in the province of Negros Occidental.
Bacolod City has two main roads, Lacson Street to the north and Araneta Street to the south. The city has a good traffic plan lay-out and very seldom has traffic jams. The streets in the downtown area are one way, making Bacolod free from traffic congestion. Recently, Bacolod City is experiencing an increase in traffic congestion due to an increase in number of vehicles and a perceived lack of implementation of traffic rules by the local government.
Seaports
Banago Wharf and BREDCO Port are the vessels entry point in Bacolod. It has daily access to Iloilo, with different shipping lines such as 2GO Travel, Weesam Express, Ocean Jet, Montenegro Lines, Jomalia Shipping and Tri Star megalink. There are also access routes to Puerto Princesa City via Iloilo City, Cagayan de Oro City, General Santos City, Zamboanga City, Cotabato City, Butuan City via Cagayan de Oro route, Dipolog CityIligan City, Ozamiz City, and Surigao City via Cagayan de Oro route. As of 2012 SuperFerry and Negros Navigation was relaunched into 2GO Travel routes from Bacolod going Manila, Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro. Bacolod City is 18–23 hours from the Port of Manila, 2–3 hours from Dumangas Port and 45 minutes- 1hr from the Port of Iloilo.
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Bacolod
Silay
Talisay
Proposed developments
Former Bacolod Mayor Monico Puentevella proposed the creation of Metro Bacolod Development Authority which is now supported by the Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. The cities of Bacolod, Talisay, Silay, Bago, and the municipality of Murcia will be the components of MBDA. Once approved, Metro Bacolod will have a total population of 1,058,203. Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Frank Carbon believes that turning Bacolod and surrounding places into a metropolitan area is an essential factor in progress. He envisions Metro Bacolod to be composed of Bacolod, Silay, Talisay and Bago cities, as well as Murcia and Salvador Benedicto towns. There is a need to create a master plan for Metro Bacolod and the Metro Bacolod Development Authority which will help this capital city and nearby areas achieve their long-term goals and boost their business sector, Carbon said. This plan divides the cities and municipalities to the following industries:
