Metro Manila Subway project finally underway
FINALLY, an idea that was first proposed as early as 1973, 45 years ago, was launched in the field last Wednesday – a Metro Manila Subway that will run from Mindanao Ave. in Quezon City to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City.
Secretary Arthur Tugade of the Department of Transportation led groundbreaking ceremonies in Barangay Ugong, Valenzuela City, where the depot for the system will be constructed. The subway’s first station will be at Mindanao Ave., in Quezon City, then Tandang Sora, then North Ave. This first phase of the project should be in operation by 2022.
The rest of the subway will be operational by 2025, with 12 succeeding stations at Quezon Ave., East Ave., Anonas, Katipunan, Ortigas North, Ortigas South, Kalayaan Ave., Bonifacio Global City, Cayetano Blvd., the Food Terminal Complex, and finally NAIA.
All these stations will be connected by underground rails in tunnels that will be bored with the use of a Tunnel Boring Machine which was prominently displayed at last Wednesday’s groundbreaking rites. With the tunnel construction work deep below the busy districts of Metro Manila, only the construction of the 15 stations will hamper traffic dung the construction period.
The subway is part of the massive “Build, Build, Build” program of the administration, with loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency and budget from the Philippine government.
When the subway project is completed in 2025, it will serve up to 370,000 passengers a day. The trip from QC to NAIA Terminal 3 in Pasay City will take 30 minutes. It will be a great leap forward from the present two hours one needs to travel today from one end of EDSA to the other.
The first phase of the subway will be in operation by 2022, which is the year President Duterte completes his six years in office. We are confident that the next president will carry the project to completion by 2025.
Many of the infrastructure projects that are now beginning will be completed by then. These many projects all over the country – roads and railroads, bridges and elevated expressways, airports and seaports – should all be in operation, a legacy of the Duterte administration. Standing out from them all will be the Metro Manila Subway.