Palace asks future governments to ensure subway completion

MALACAÑANG on Wednesday said it hopes succeeding administrations will see to it that the Metro Manila Subway project is completed by 2025.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the subway took place on Wednesday afternoon.

“The critics say it can never be done. The cynics say it is just a dream. We are pleased to announce today’s groundbreaking ceremony of the Metro Manila Subway, which will be the first-ever underground railway system in the Philippines,” the President’s spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo said in a statement.

The first section of the subway is due for completion by 2022, when President Rodrigo R. Duterte steps down. The entire line is expected to be up and running by 2025, leaving the launch of full operations to the next government.

“Once it becomes serviceable, and with a speed of 80 kph, the riding public can travel from Quezon City to NAIA Terminal 3 in 30 minutes. There will be 15 stations, and the first three stations will be operational in 2022, according to the Department of Transportation (DoTr),” he added.

Mr. Panelo added: “We request succeeding administrations to exert the same effort until the railway system is fully completed.”

He said the Office of the President “will be monitoring the progress of this project and commits its all-out support to the DoTr and all agencies involved as they endeavor to deliver this facility to our countrymen.”

The public, Mr. Panelo also said, should “remain patient as it is us who will greatly benefit from gains of this major infrastructure project in the near future.”

The Metro Manila Subway, he added, is considered “the project of the century as it is a major transformational project in mass transport.”