Government asks Meralco, PLDT to relocate facilities in infrastructure sites

The Department of Transportation is in talks with power retailer Manila Electric Company and PLDT, Inc. to expedite the relocation of electric and telecommunication lines that will be affected by infrastructure projects.

The agency said these projects included Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite Extension Project, MRT-7, North-South Commuter Railway and Metro Manila Subway.

Light Rail Manila Corp., a joint venture of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp., is constructing the P35-billion LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension Project.

The Cavite extension will connect into the existing system immediately south of the Baclaran station and will extend to Niog, Bacoor, Cavite.

San Miguel Holdings Inc. is building the P69.3-billion MRT 7 project which will have 14 stations.

Once the MRT-7 is built, it would take only 30 minutes to commute from North Ave. in Quezon City to San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan, compared to the current two-hour travel time.

The project also has a road component―a 23-kilometer stretch that would start at the Balagtas Interchange of North Luzon Expressway and end in an intermodal terminal in San Jose Del Monte.

The Philippines earlier signed a P78-billion loan agreement with the government of Japan for the construction of North-South Commuter Railway Extension Project.

Previously divided into three different projects, the NSCR System Project will seamlessly integrate the 38-km PNR 1 from Tutuban, Manila to Malolos, Bulacan; the 53-km PNR 2 from Malolos to Clark International Airport; and the 72-km PNR 3 from Solis to Los Banos, Laguna.

The NSCR System, with a total project cost of P777.55 billion, will have 36 stations, 58 eight-car trains (inclusive of 7 airport express trains) and a double-track fully elevated railway system that will connect Central Luzon, the National Capital Region and Calabarzon.

The Metro Manila Subway Project, a 36-kilometer underground railway system dubbed as the “project of the century,” broke ground on Feb. 27.

The subway’s depot will be located in Barangay Ugong and the project will have 15 stations from Quirino Highway in Quezon City to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 in Pasay City and FTI complex in Taguig City.

The government expects 370,000 passengers to benefit from the subway’s first year of full operations by 2025.

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