THE Quezon City government said it has established a task force to minimize road congestion during the construction of five national infrastructure projects in the city.

“The plan is for all the stakeholders to coordinate with one another to come up with measures to mitigate against the traffic that five major and simultaneous national government infrastructure projects are anticipated to cause, in order to minimise inconvenience to the people,” Mayor Maria Josefina G. Belmonte-Alimurung told BusinessWorld by phone Tuesday.

Ms. Belmonte said she will head Task Force Build 5. She said, the stakeholders include the Department of Transportation (DoTr), Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) for segment 8.2 connecting the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) to Commonwealth Avenue and C-5, the National Housing Authority (NHA), and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The DoTr is overseeing work on the Metro Rail Transit Line 7 and the subway, while MPTC is in charge of segment 8.2. The NHA is in charge of relocating about 18,000 squatters to be affected by segment 8.2, while the DPWH is in charge of the Skyway elevated road, Ms. Belmonte said. Various agencies of the city government are also represented.

Ms. Belmonte said she has met with representatives of the DoTr and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which is helping fun the subway project.

The subway system will run from North Avenue in Quezon City to the FTI compound in Bicutan, with an airport link to terminal 3. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

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