MRT 7 now over 50% complete

The completion of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 7 from Quezon City to Bulacan province has passed the halfway mark.The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said on Thursday the 23-kilometer project, which was being funded and would be operated by conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), is 50.7-percent complete as of Jan. 15 this year.

Activity at the railway line is picking up after the government and SMC were allowed by a Quezon City court to take control of a 20-hectare property that would be used for a future train depot.

The MRT 7 broke ground in 2016. Once fully completed by 2022, it will link San Jose del Monte in Bulacan and North Avenue in Quezon City and cut travel time between the two locations from two hours to 34 minutes.

MRT 7 will also connect to the DOTr’s massive Quezon City common station project, a transport gateway that will house stations for the MRT 3, Light Rail Transit Line 1 and eventually the Metro Manila Subway project, which is expected to be fully completed by 2025.The P63-billion MRT 7 is poised to serve 300,000 to 850,000 passengers a day, the department added.

The DOTr announced last November that it took possession of a 20-ha parcel of land along Quirino Highway in Barangay Lagro, Quezon City after winning favorable writs of possession issued by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 92 and 98.

The main landowner was Century Communities Corp., part of the Antonio family’s Century Properties Group Inc.

According to documents provided to the Inquirer, Century Communities was offered payment of P3,600 per square meter. Thus, the company’s combined holdings of 202,502 sqm of land were valued at about P729 million.

Century said in a stock exchange filing that it remained the owner of the land “until the government has fully undertaken the necessary procedures for expropriation.” It also rejected the offer of the DOTr, noting that the valuation was “grossly inadequate compared to the actual market value of the properties”.Century said it had filed the necessary court pleadings to exercise its rights on the property.