By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
THE Metro Manila subway will now have 17 stations, after the Transportation department decided to expand the original plan to include more stations.
Transportation Assistant Secretary Goddes Hope O. Libiran told BusinessWorld the new stations will be located in East Valenzuela, Lawton, Senate, Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 and Bicutan.
She said the Lawton and Senate stations have replaced the Cayetano Boulevard station, located in Taguig, in the initial plan. The new Senate complex, located in Fort Bonifacio, is expected to be completed by July 2021.
The East Valenzuela station will be located at the subway’s depot site in Barangay Ugong, Valenzuela, Ms. Libiran said.
Bicutan will be the location of a “common station” for both the Metro Manila Subway and the proposed Philippine National Railways Calamba line under the North-South Commuter Railway, she said.
The subway project’s existing stations include Quirino Highway, Tandang Sora, North Avenue, Quezon Avenue, East Avenue, Anonas, Katipunan, Ortigas (previously called Ortigas North), Shaw (previously called Ortigas South), Kalayaan Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, and FTI.
Asked if the added stations will need the approval of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Ms. Libiran said: “We’re going back to NEDA after the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Design Team finishes the updated designs and cost.”
Ms. Libiran said the NAIA Terminal 3 station will no longer require the go signal from the NEDA because when its board approved the subway project in September 2017, “one of the conditions was to include an airport station.”
The Metro Manila subway is one of the administration’s flagship projects funded by official development assistance (ODA) from Japan.
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