DOTr assures completion of P488-B subway project

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) assured the public that the P488 billion Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP), one of the Philippines’ largest infrastructure projects, will be completed after the historic lowering of the projects's first Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) over the weekend.

The event marks the start of the underground construction works for the country’s first-ever underground mass transport system which was 30 percent complete as of March this year.

“I congratulate the DOTr, Secretary Tugade, and his partners, for achieving significant progress for the Metro Manila Subway,” President Rodrigo Roa Duterte stated during the event.

For his part, Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko recognized the government's efforts to make this subway a reality.

In the same event, the DOTr also unveiled the state-of-the-art train simulator for the Philippines Railways Institute (PRI) and conducted an inspection of the subway’s depot in Ugong, Valenzuela.

Everything is in place to ensure the subway will be built even beyond President Duterte’s term, according to Tugade.

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“MMSP is a flagship project, the so-called 'Project of the Century’, which has been started and will be finished," Tugade reiterated during the June 12 Independence Day event.

First of all, "The funds are in place, through the efforts of the Department of Finance with the government of Japan and JICA. In other words, we have no problem with funds. The fund is there," he underscored.

Secondly, "Most of the contracts involved in the construction of the subway are already awarded. In fact, many have started. These can't be stopped."

Thirdly, 90 percent of the right-of-way has been arranged and settled. "So how can the subway be stopped?" Tugade reasoned.

The MMSP spans more than 33 kilometers and will reduce travel time between Quezon City and Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) from one hour and 10 minutes to 35 minutes.

Once operational, the rail line can serve up to 370,000 passengers per day in its first year of operations.

The DOTr targets to partially open the subway by 2025, with full operations slated by 2027.