Commuters can breathe a sigh of relief as the long-delayed Taguig City Integrated Terminal Exchange (TCITX) is set to begin construction in the second quarter, after the government addressed the final roadblock to the project.

Transportation Undersecretary Mark Steven Pastor said the Ayala Land Inc.(ALI)-led project is now poised to start civil works, having resolved issues related to the Southeast Metro Manila Expressway (SEMME).

Pastor said the TCITX, which broke ground in February last year, has faced construction delays largely due to setbacks in the alignment of SEMME.

SEMME, or the Skyway Stage 4 project, is a 32.66-kilometer elevated expressway that will connect the existing Skyway system at ALI’s Arca South in Taguig to the Batasan Complex in Quezon City.

“Now that [SEMME] has been finalized, the property has also been turned over to the concessionaire, we’re now in the design phase [of TCITX],” Pastor told reporters.

Located in Arca South, TCITX is a multimodal terminal spanning 5.57 hectares and is expected to serve up to 160,000 passengers and 5,200 vehicles daily.

TCITX will be connected to train operations, specifically the under-construction North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) and Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP). This is alongside in-city and provincial buses, taxis, and other public utility vehicles (PUVs).

Pastor noted that the project’s design phase is now in its final stages, alongside pre-construction activities such as site-clearing operations.

He said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) is urging ALI to expedite the design phase to meet the scheduled construction start in the second quarter of the year.

If construction begins between April and June, he said the project will meet its target completion date of 2027, either in the third quarter or fourth quarter. It is expected to begin operations in 2028.

Estimated to cost ₱5.2 billion, ALI was awarded TCITX public-private partnership (PPP) project in 2015, but right-of-way issues stalled its development.

TCITX is expected to complement the routes being served by Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX), providing greater transport connectivity to Southern Luzon.

To better serve commuters in Northern Luzon, the DOTr is working on a feasibility study to determine a viable site for a multimodal transport terminal north of the capital region.

Pastor said they are eyeing sites in Quezon City, Valenzuela, and Caloocan—specifically in locations where the terminal can be built in close proximity to railway lines such as NSCR and MMSP.

At this point, he said the DOTr has yet to decide on whether it will tap the private sector to build the project, noting that PPP is “always an option.”