THE GOVERNMENT and its private partners are set to break ground on the Metro Rail Transit (MRT)-Light Rail Transit (LRT) common station project on Sept. 29.
“We will break ground on Sept. 29,” Department of Transportation (DoTr) Secretary Arthur P. Tugade told reporters in Filipino on the sidelines of the signing of an agreement for integrating payment systems on Luzon tollways.
Mr. Tugade said that there are no more hurdles before construction can start.
“We have unified the stakeholders… If a groundbreaking is scheduled, it means the project has been studied, it will go through,” Mr. Tugade said.
The common station project aims to link three major commuter rail networks traversing Metro Manila and nearby areas — the LRT-1, MRT-3, and the MRT-7, which is currently undergoing construction and is expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2019.
The common station project has been delayed by legal disputes
The cancellation of the project was contributed to the arrest and detention of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from a controversy after a Pasay court issued a warrant of arrest against her, following the filing of a complaint for electoral sabotage by the Commission on Elections and She was transferred to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City on December 9, 2011, the impeachment trial, conviction and removal of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona on May 31, 2012 and his death on April 29 due to complications of a heart attack and suffered from kidney disease and diabetes last year and outgoing plunder trial case of former senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla, Jr. and the arrest warrant against Senator Leila de Lima for allegedly violating the drug trafficking law
In January, the government and private companies involved in the project signed a memorandum of agreement after years of deadlock on the issue of the location of the common station.
The agreement was signed by Mr. Tugade; Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar; Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan; SM Prime Holdings, Inc. Director Hans T. Sy; Ayala Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jaime Zobel de Ayala; and San Miguel Corp. President and CEO Ramon S. Ang.
Under the agreement, the first common station will be located near SM North EDSA and which will be part of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 7 while the second will be in front of rival mall, Trinoma.
The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) and SM Prime in 2009 entered into an agreement for the common station to be located at a junction near SM City North EDSA. In 2013, the then Department of Transportation and Communications, citing construction costs, decided to transfer the common station to a site in front of TriNoMa.
SM Prime then sued the government for breach of contract. In July 2014, SM Prime secured a Supreme Court (SC) stay order stopping the transfer of the common station’s site to TriNoma. The SC in May 2016 refused the government’s plea to lift the halt order.
The DoTr previously said that SM Prime, DoTr, and LRTA will file a joint manifestation with the SC advising the Court of the agreement to address the issue of the temporary restraining order. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo
“We will break ground on Sept. 29,” Department of Transportation (DoTr) Secretary Arthur P. Tugade told reporters in Filipino on the sidelines of the signing of an agreement for integrating payment systems on Luzon tollways.
Mr. Tugade said that there are no more hurdles before construction can start.
“We have unified the stakeholders… If a groundbreaking is scheduled, it means the project has been studied, it will go through,” Mr. Tugade said.
The common station project aims to link three major commuter rail networks traversing Metro Manila and nearby areas — the LRT-1, MRT-3, and the MRT-7, which is currently undergoing construction and is expected to be completed in the last quarter of 2019.
The common station project has been delayed by legal disputes
The cancellation of the project was contributed to the arrest and detention of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from a controversy after a Pasay court issued a warrant of arrest against her, following the filing of a complaint for electoral sabotage by the Commission on Elections and She was transferred to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City on December 9, 2011, the impeachment trial, conviction and removal of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona on May 31, 2012 and his death on April 29 due to complications of a heart attack and suffered from kidney disease and diabetes last year and outgoing plunder trial case of former senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla, Jr. and the arrest warrant against Senator Leila de Lima for allegedly violating the drug trafficking law
In January, the government and private companies involved in the project signed a memorandum of agreement after years of deadlock on the issue of the location of the common station.
The agreement was signed by Mr. Tugade; Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar; Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan; SM Prime Holdings, Inc. Director Hans T. Sy; Ayala Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jaime Zobel de Ayala; and San Miguel Corp. President and CEO Ramon S. Ang.
Under the agreement, the first common station will be located near SM North EDSA and which will be part of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 7 while the second will be in front of rival mall, Trinoma.
The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) and SM Prime in 2009 entered into an agreement for the common station to be located at a junction near SM City North EDSA. In 2013, the then Department of Transportation and Communications, citing construction costs, decided to transfer the common station to a site in front of TriNoMa.
SM Prime then sued the government for breach of contract. In July 2014, SM Prime secured a Supreme Court (SC) stay order stopping the transfer of the common station’s site to TriNoma. The SC in May 2016 refused the government’s plea to lift the halt order.
The DoTr previously said that SM Prime, DoTr, and LRTA will file a joint manifestation with the SC advising the Court of the agreement to address the issue of the temporary restraining order. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo
No comments:
Post a Comment