SMC, DOTr allowed to take over QC property for MRT-7
Issues involving the acquisition of a property needed for the development of the Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7) have been resolved in favor of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and conglomerate San Miguel Corp., increasing the project’s chances of commencing partial operations by 2021.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said works on the MRT-7’s 20-hectare depot formally started on Tuesday after nearly two years of court hearings and appeals to obtain the site.
The agency said writs of possession issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 92 and 98 in favor of the DOTr and its concessionaire, SMC Mass Rail Transit 7 Inc. (SMRT7) of San Miguel, were successfully enforced by sheriffs of the two courts.
The writs of possession in favor of the DOTr and SMRT7 were issued by the QC RTC Branches 92 and 98 on Nov. 22 and Nov. 25, respectively.
A writ of possession is a writ of execution employed to enforce a judgment to recover the possession of land, commanding the sheriff to enter the land and give its possession to the party entitled under the judgment.
The property owners previously refused the DOTr’s current market value offer, forcing the agency and SMRT7, in coordination with the Office of the Solicitor General, to file expropriation cases last Nov. 15.
Pursuant to Republic Act 10752 or the new Right-of-Way Act, the DOTr said it offered to buy the depot site from its owners at current market value, as appraised by a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-accredited independent property appraiser.
“The start of depot works signifies much more than a dot in the timeline of the project. It shows us that when the judiciary work hand in hand with the executive department, we are able to pick up speed in delivering infrastructure development to the Filipino people,” Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said.
The DOTr said the depot site along Quirino Highway in Barangay Lagro, Quezon City, was found optimal for “right-of-way implementability, asset constructibility, capital expenditure and operational expense efficiency, and operational reliability and maintainability.”
Tugade approved the depot site during his inspection last June.
The MRT-7 is a 23-kilometer railway with 13 stations that will connect San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan with North Avenue in Quezon City in about 34 minutes.
Once operational, the line is expected to ferry between 300,000 and 850,000 passengers per day, with room for capacity expansion to accommodate future increases in ridership.
It will be connected to LRT1, MRT-3, and the Metro Manila Subway at the Common Station in North Avenue.
The DOTr said the MRT-7 project is 49 percent complete as of end-October and is scheduled to begin its partial operations running from the North EDSA common station to Fairview in 2021.