DEPARTMENT of Transportation (DoTr) Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said the Metro Rail Transit (MRT)-7 project, which will connect North Avenue in Quezon City to San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan, will be completed by the last quarter of 2019.
“We will finish this within the term of President Rodrigo R. Duterte. We have the contractors here, our friends from Korea. They will finish this in two years, last quarter of 2019, they promised me a while ago,” Tugade said, speaking in Filipino, during a briefing accompanying his inspection of the MRT-7 Quezon Memorial Circle Station.
Tugade also said he asked San Miguel Corp. (SMC), the project proponent, for an even earlier completion date, the second quarter of 2019, which the company will try to achieve on a “best efforts” basis.
The MRT-7 project has three components: a 22-kilometer rail transit system with 14 stations; a six-lane highway between the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and the Intermodal Transportation Terminal (ITT); and the ITT that can accommodate 200 buses at a time.
The MRT-7 project is a public-private partnership project, with SMC as the government’s private partner, and the Hyundai Rotem-EEI consortium as engineering, procurement and construction contractor.
Upon completion of the project, the MRT-7 line will accommodate an estimated 420,000 passengers daily.
Tugade also asked for patience from the public, saying that traffic build-up along Doña Carmen and Regalado Streets in Quezon City will be alleviated by December, which is when SMC aims to complete building of columns in the areas.
The transport secretary also told reporters that the first train set for the rail system will arrive by February 2018, and that all train sets should have arrived by January 2019.
With regard to problems that may be encountered in terms of right of way, Tugade said that the National Housing Authority has 6,000 housing units with utilities, located in Bulacan and Rizal, available for those who will be affected by the construction of the project, and that the Department of Budget and Management has allocated funding for relocation.
He also added that the DoTr is working with local government units on right-of-way issues. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo
