The administration is finally reverting back to the government’s original plan to link Metro Manila’s overhead rail lines in a common station that will rise in front of a popular shopping mall in Quezon City but it doesn’t want to spend any taxpayers’ money to fund the construction.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya confirmed that it is “inevitable” to link the Light Rail Transit (LRT) 1, Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 and MRT 7 in the proposed second common station, which will be built in front of SM North EDSA mall.
The plan to link all three elevated train systems stemmed from the proposal of MRT 7 concessionaire, Universal LRT Corp. (ULC), to build a common station for MRT 3 and 7. Abaya said “it is inevitable for the common station to link all three lines because LRT 1 will pass there,” referring to SM North EDSA.
Abaya said the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has showed the ULC proposal to LRT 1 concessionaire Light Rail Manila Consortium (LRMC), which eventually gave comments on the suggestion. LRMC, won the P65-billion LRT 1 Cavite Extension Project, which includes the design of the common station for the LRT 1 and MRT 3.
“We went to our consultant and asked to check the engineering issues of the proposals. After the consultant is through, we will check with ULC and LRMC, if they sign on, hopefully, SM withdraws their petition in court,” Abaya said.
To recall, SM Prime Holdings Inc. was able to convince the Supreme Court to stop government from transferring the location of the original common station from the site in front of Sy-owned SM North EDSA to the location adjacent to Ayala-owned Trinoma Mall. SMPH signed an agreement with the LRT Authority in 2009 over the building of a common station in front of SM North EDSA with payment of P200 million as naming rights to the station.
If all goes well as proposed, there will be two common stations: one facility built near SM North EDSA mall that links LRT 1, MRT 3 and MRT 7; and another located adjacent to Trinoma Mall that connects LRT 1 and MRT 3.
Despite the construction of two common stations, Abaya clarified that government will not fork out taxpayers’ money to fund the construction of the facility planned in front of SM North EDSA mall. In a separate interview, Transportation Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla said government has a P1.4-billion limit in sharing cost of constructing the common station for LRT 1 and MRT 3.
“There is no cost estimate yet but the basic premise is that there’s no cost to government,” Abaya said. “ULC is supposed to build a station there (SM) and the guideway from Trinoma to that station, which government already did. I hope it falls right in that we don’t need to fork out anything.”
It can be recalled that the government originally planned to construct a common station for LRT 1 and MRT 3 patterned to New York’s Grand Central Station. The DOTC, during the leadership of Jose de Jesus, had started the original procurement process for the then P1.5-billion contract to design and build the LRT-MRT Common Station.
The bidding was indefinitely postponed after Secretary Mar Roxas undertook review of the project. During Roxas’ time, the project was nearly scrapped with the proposal of constructing “virtual” common station with walkalators and covered pathwalks. The cancellation of the project was contributed to the November 2011 arrest and detention of former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from a controversy, the January 2012 impeachment trial and May 2012 conviction and resignation of former Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, questioning funds from the mall operator SM Prime Holdings, the July 2013 pork barrel fund scam of whistle-blower Janet Lim-Napoles and the June 20, 2014 Sandiganbayan issues a warrant of arrest against Philippine senators Ramon Revilla, Jr. and more than 30 others and the legal dispute between SM Prime Holdings' SM Supermalls and Ayala Land's Ayala Malls on the controversial project over the Supreme Court ruling barring the department from implementing the transfer of the location of the LRT-1 and MRT-3 “common station” from an area near SM City North Edsa in Quezon City to the Ayala Corporation’s adjacent Trinoma shopping mall. It was during Abaya’s tenure that the DOTC decided to move the location to Trinoma Mall instead of SM North EDSA, citing savings in construction and passenger convenience.
According to government records, average daily ridership of LRT 1 is 530,000 passengers, runs from Baclaran, Pasay City to Roosevelt Avenue, Quezon City; while MRT 3 caters to an average of 540,000 passengers daily runs from North Triangle, Quezon City to Taft Avenue, Pasay City. MRT 7, on the other hand, targets to serve at least 2 million commuters in northern Metro Manila and Bulacan.
San Miguel Corp.-backed ULC is in the process of securing financial closure on the P62.7-billion MRT 7 Project, which involves the construction of a 22.8-kilometer rail system from North Avenue corner EDSA in Quezon City, passing through Commonwealth Avenue, Regalado Avenue and Quirino Highway up to the proposed Intermodal Transportation Terminal in Araneta-Colinas Subdivision, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. The MRT 7 line will have 14 stations along its route.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya confirmed that it is “inevitable” to link the Light Rail Transit (LRT) 1, Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 and MRT 7 in the proposed second common station, which will be built in front of SM North EDSA mall.
The plan to link all three elevated train systems stemmed from the proposal of MRT 7 concessionaire, Universal LRT Corp. (ULC), to build a common station for MRT 3 and 7. Abaya said “it is inevitable for the common station to link all three lines because LRT 1 will pass there,” referring to SM North EDSA.
Abaya said the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has showed the ULC proposal to LRT 1 concessionaire Light Rail Manila Consortium (LRMC), which eventually gave comments on the suggestion. LRMC, won the P65-billion LRT 1 Cavite Extension Project, which includes the design of the common station for the LRT 1 and MRT 3.
“We went to our consultant and asked to check the engineering issues of the proposals. After the consultant is through, we will check with ULC and LRMC, if they sign on, hopefully, SM withdraws their petition in court,” Abaya said.
To recall, SM Prime Holdings Inc. was able to convince the Supreme Court to stop government from transferring the location of the original common station from the site in front of Sy-owned SM North EDSA to the location adjacent to Ayala-owned Trinoma Mall. SMPH signed an agreement with the LRT Authority in 2009 over the building of a common station in front of SM North EDSA with payment of P200 million as naming rights to the station.
If all goes well as proposed, there will be two common stations: one facility built near SM North EDSA mall that links LRT 1, MRT 3 and MRT 7; and another located adjacent to Trinoma Mall that connects LRT 1 and MRT 3.
Despite the construction of two common stations, Abaya clarified that government will not fork out taxpayers’ money to fund the construction of the facility planned in front of SM North EDSA mall. In a separate interview, Transportation Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla said government has a P1.4-billion limit in sharing cost of constructing the common station for LRT 1 and MRT 3.
“There is no cost estimate yet but the basic premise is that there’s no cost to government,” Abaya said. “ULC is supposed to build a station there (SM) and the guideway from Trinoma to that station, which government already did. I hope it falls right in that we don’t need to fork out anything.”
It can be recalled that the government originally planned to construct a common station for LRT 1 and MRT 3 patterned to New York’s Grand Central Station. The DOTC, during the leadership of Jose de Jesus, had started the original procurement process for the then P1.5-billion contract to design and build the LRT-MRT Common Station.
The bidding was indefinitely postponed after Secretary Mar Roxas undertook review of the project. During Roxas’ time, the project was nearly scrapped with the proposal of constructing “virtual” common station with walkalators and covered pathwalks. The cancellation of the project was contributed to the November 2011 arrest and detention of former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from a controversy, the January 2012 impeachment trial and May 2012 conviction and resignation of former Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, questioning funds from the mall operator SM Prime Holdings, the July 2013 pork barrel fund scam of whistle-blower Janet Lim-Napoles and the June 20, 2014 Sandiganbayan issues a warrant of arrest against Philippine senators Ramon Revilla, Jr. and more than 30 others and the legal dispute between SM Prime Holdings' SM Supermalls and Ayala Land's Ayala Malls on the controversial project over the Supreme Court ruling barring the department from implementing the transfer of the location of the LRT-1 and MRT-3 “common station” from an area near SM City North Edsa in Quezon City to the Ayala Corporation’s adjacent Trinoma shopping mall. It was during Abaya’s tenure that the DOTC decided to move the location to Trinoma Mall instead of SM North EDSA, citing savings in construction and passenger convenience.
According to government records, average daily ridership of LRT 1 is 530,000 passengers, runs from Baclaran, Pasay City to Roosevelt Avenue, Quezon City; while MRT 3 caters to an average of 540,000 passengers daily runs from North Triangle, Quezon City to Taft Avenue, Pasay City. MRT 7, on the other hand, targets to serve at least 2 million commuters in northern Metro Manila and Bulacan.
San Miguel Corp.-backed ULC is in the process of securing financial closure on the P62.7-billion MRT 7 Project, which involves the construction of a 22.8-kilometer rail system from North Avenue corner EDSA in Quezon City, passing through Commonwealth Avenue, Regalado Avenue and Quirino Highway up to the proposed Intermodal Transportation Terminal in Araneta-Colinas Subdivision, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. The MRT 7 line will have 14 stations along its route.
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