DOTC eyes common station compromise deal

The Department of Transportation and Communications wants private-sector stakeholders to sign an agreement that would pave the way for a second railway common station near SM City North Edsa in Quezon City, as it aims to clear legal roadblocks that could delay crucial transport infrastructure.

While exact details are not yet available, the agreement means that there would be a station each near the SM group’s SM City North Edsa and Ayala Land Inc.’s Trinoma shopping mall across the street, Transportation secretary Joseph Abaya told reporters in a recent interview.

He said they were hoping to sign an agreement early this year to settle disagreements on the common station’s location, which aims to link the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 and Light Rail Transit elevated railways.

There are other big business groups involved in this process.

These include San Miguel Corp.’s Universal LRT Corp. Ltd., which is building the MRT-7, which would extend MRT-3 to Bulacan, and the Ayala and Metro Pacific Investments-backed Light Rail Manila Consortium, which bagged in 2014 a contract to expand and operate the LRT-1.

With interlocking interests in the railways, the DOTC wants all groups to agree on the dual common station configuration. Right now, any decision on the common station’s location remains with the Supreme Court after SM Prime Holdings sued the government in 2014 for allegedly breaching a 2009 deal for the station to be located near SM.

“We told them to sign an agreement. Once MRT-7 and LRT-1 concessionaire sign off, then it will be presented to SM,” said Abaya, adding that if the SM group agrees “then that will solve things.”

The issue stemmed from the DOTC’s decision in 2014 to locate the common station, valuable to developers because of the foot traffic they lure, near Trinoma, saying the location was more convenient for commuters.

However, SM had an existing agreement with the Light Rail Transit Authority for the station to be located near SM City that was signed six years ago.

In response to the DOTC’s move, SM Prime went to the Supreme Court and got an injunction halting the transfer of the project. SM also scored the DOTC for its lack of transparency is deciding to move the location to Trinoma, saying they were not informed properly despite several letters on the matter.

The move prompted the DOTC to now consider establishing a second railway station.

Getting all private sector groups to agree in this manner would remove the need for a court decision, where the timing is unpredictable. Abaya added that government would not shoulder the cost of the second common station in SM and it was not clear which group will pay for the project.