The Japanese government has pledged a US$4 billion soft loan to fund the construction of the first phase of the Mega Manila Subway project two years from now, according to the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).
The pledge will be signed by President Rodrigo Duterte and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in November of this year when Abe visits the Philippines to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations+3 Forum, BCDA president Vivencio Dizon announced during last week’s Infrastructure Congress and Expo.
The project is estimated to cost P227 billion, according to the Philippine government’s infrastructure projects portal, build.gov.ph.
The government assured that the planned Mega Manila Subway is doable despite Metro Manila’s challenging terrain and fault lines.
Dizon noted that naysayers have said a subway in Metro Manila is impossible as the Greater Metro Manila Area sits above the West Valley Fault Line, an active fault that can cause a magnitude 7.2 earthquake.
He noted, however, that “Tokyo is also a city that sits above a fault line and they have the best subway in the world, by far.”
Transportation Assistant Secretary Timothy Batan, during a panel discussion at the same event, pointed out that “subway systems have been built in terrains that are more challenging than what we have so I guess if the question is from a constructability perspective, it’s definitely possible.”
On whether the public needs a subway, Batan explained: “Metro Manila is on a north-south capital. To the west, we have the alignment for LRT (Light Rail Transit) Line 1 which will further extend up to Cavite. In the center of Metro Manila, we have the alignment of the PNR (Philippine National Railways) which serves that corridor. But if you will go to the right or eastern side, then we notice that there is really no available or existing right of way that will allow us to develop a north-south mass transport corridor.”
He said this is why the roadmap for transport development in Metro Manila identified the Mega Manila Subway as “the optimal mode for us to provide that much needed transport corridor in the east of Metro Manila.”
Batan said that after the detailed study of the Mega Manila subway is completed in July this year, construction is expected to start in 2019.
The Japanese consultant had pegged the project completion around 2025, but Batan said Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade is asking them to adopt technologies and construction methodologies that will cut the construction period to three and a half years.
The project involves a 25-kilometer underground mass transportation system connecting major business districts and government centers.
The first phase, to start from Quezon City and end in Taguig, is expected to reduce travel time by 31 minutes and serve around 370,000 passengers daily in its initial year.
The Quezon City-Taguig subway will consist of 13 stations, with proposed stops at Mindanao Avenue, North Avenue, Quezon Avenue, East Avenue, Anonas, Katipunan, Ortigas North, Ortigas South, Kalayaan, Bonifacio Global City, Cayetano Boulevard, Food Terminal Inc., and Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Eventually the subway is envisioned to start from San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, and reach up to Dasmariñas City, Cavite.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
