September 28 marks the day when the deal to build the common station—a facility that will connect three overhead railway systems in Metro Manila—finally bids good-bye to its seven-year limbo.
In an advisory, the transportation department said it will pen an agreement with all the parties involved in the construction of the P1.4-billion common station, a single alignment that will ease transfer from one train line to another. The facility will be built between SM North Edsa and TriNoma Mall in Quezon City. It will provide easy access to both malls and major roads like Edsa, and will provide a common concourse or atrium to facilitate easy transfer.
All of the stakeholders in the deal—SM Prime Holdings Inc., Universal LRT Corp., Ayala Land Inc., Light Rail Manila Corp., the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Light Rail Transit Authority—have agreed to sign the agreement on Wednesday.
“Getting all parties to agree is among Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade’s targets within the first 100 days, and it involved engaging all stakeholders in meetings in order to reach a consensus,” the advisory read.
In a meeting on September 8, Tugade made SM Investments Corp. Vice Chairman Teresita Sy-Coson, SM Prime President Hans Sy, Ayala Corp. Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, San Miguel Corp. President Ramon S. Ang and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan “agree that a unified station is necessary to make commuting more convenient to the public.”
Talks about building a station that will link the Light Rail Transit (LRT) 1, the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 and the future MRT 7 started in 2009, with the rail regulator singing an agreement with the SM Group to build the station near its mall in North Edsa.
But the previous transport officials placed the deal under review, citing issues on costs. It has since endorsed the construction of the facility near TriNoma, a shopping mall adjacent to SM North Edsa.
This earned the ire of the SM Group, which sought the Supreme Court’s intervention. The High Court then issued a temporary restraining order on the construction of the facility.
The agreement that is set to be signed on Wednesday will pave way for the lifting of the stay order, hence, the construction of the common station.
Such an agreement will also remove one of the roadblocks to the building of the MRT 7, a train system that will connect Bulacan to Quezon City. It is scheduled for completion by 2019. The rail component of the MRT 7 project involves the construction of a 22.8-kilometers rail-transit system that is envisioned to operate 108 rail cars in a three-car train configuration with a daily passenger capacity ranging from 448,000 to 850,000.
It will have 14 stations, starting with the North Avenue Station on Edsa, passing through Commonwealth Avenue, Regalado Avenue and Quirino Highway, up to the proposed Intermodal Transport Terminal in San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan. The road component of the project, meanwhile, involves the construction of a six-lane access road from San Jose del Monte to the Balagtas, Bulacan North Luzon Expressway exit. It took all the stakeholders seven years before finally closing the deal.