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The Department of Transportation will fast-track construction of the Metro Manila Subway Project
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President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. hopes the project can be partly completed by the time he leaves office in 2028
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DOTr said the 2028 inauguration could cover the Valenzuela to Camp Aguinaldo stations
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The first underground railway in the country, the 33-kilometer MMSP is a 17-station rail line that will cut travel time from Valenzuela City to Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City from one hour and 38 minutes to just 45 minutes
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) will fast track construction of the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) with President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. saying he hopes the project can be partly completed by the time he leaves office in 2028.
“Sana matapos natin ito hanggang sa Valenzuela, baka matapos natin ito ‘28. Baka puwede nang in-inaugurate sa 2028 (We hope the subway can be completed up to Valenzuela by 2028),” Marcos said following an inspection of the rail line’s Camp Aguinaldo Station on July 16.
DOTr in a statement said the 2028 inauguration could cover the Valenzuela to Camp Aguinaldo stations.
Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon said DOTr will work together with the subway contractors to fast-track construction in response to Marcos’ directive.
Dizon last February also said they will look into the possibility of changing timelines to speed up the completion of the subway while working on challenges such as right-of-way acquisition.
The first underground railway in the country, the 33-kilometer (km) MMSP is a 17-station rail line that will cut travel time from Valenzuela City to Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City from one hour and 38 minutes to just 45 minutes, while servicing over half a million passengers daily.
Last January, tunneling works for Contract Package (CP) 103 of the MMSP began with the launch of a tunnel boring machine (TBM) at the project’s Camp Aguinaldo Station in Quezon City. CP 103 covers a length of 6.516 km and includes the construction of two underground stations and tunnels — Anonas and Camp Aguinaldo stations.
The four other TBMs are already operating for the project’s Contract Package 101 — which is composed of four stations in the north, namely, Quirino Highway Station, Tandang Sora Station, North Avenue Station, and East Valenzuela Station.
Total project cost for the first phase is pegged at P488.47 billion to be sourced through loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
In March 2018, JICA signed the first tranche of the loan worth JPY104.53 billion (about P47.58 billion) for the construction of the MMSP Phase 1. The second tranche worth JPY253.3 billion (P112.9 billion) was signed in February 2022, while the third was inked in March last year worth JPY150 billion (about P55 billion).
