First phase of mega subway plan seen to require P214B in investment

The government expects the initial phase of the proposed Mega Manila Subway project—a part of the country’s infrastructure pipeline to address demand for mass transportation—to require an investment of least P214 billion.

In a presentation at the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (Aprea) forum on Friday, Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral said the subway project would run a 23-kilometer stretch and have about 13 stations. This is among the many flagship projects planned by the Duterte administration under its “build, build, build” strategy and aspiration to bring the country to a golden age of infrastructure.

It is a project of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) but Cabral said she had been “sitting in many meetings because they (DOTr) have been collaborating with DPWH in terms of alignment.”

The proposed P214-billion subway is seen to have an initial ridership of 366,000 per day by 2025, based on Cabral’s presentation.

Japanese Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa earlier said the feasibility study covering the alignment for the central section of the proposed Mega Manila Subway was expected to be completed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) in the latter half of the year. He said the feasibility study would cover the central zone of the subway, starting from Quezon City up to FTI.

Based on a 2014 Jica report on the project, the subway project would start in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan in the north, then traverse the high volume corridors of Metro Manila and end in Dasmariñas Cavite in the south. With its North-South alignment, the subway is seen to connect Region III (Central Luzon), the National Capital Region (Metro Manila) and Region IV-A (Calabarzon).

To date, railways in the Philippines are either installed at-grade along open areas or elevated along existing roads and waterways like the mass railway transits. But due to the rapid urbanization of Metro Manila, the metropolis is seen to have little leeway to expand the infrastructure system, resulting in overcrowding of streets, heavily congested roads and insufficient capacity of the transport system.

Jica seeks to introduce the subway system concept to the country, citing this as a system “now being widely used in other countries with large metropolitan and highly populated areas where space for construction of the structure for a mass transport project is very limited and the remaining option is to go underground wherever feasible.”