Despite a backlog of 45 percent in road right-of-way (ROW) acquisition for the Metro Manila Subway Project, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) is still hopeful of meeting its deadline for completion and operation by 2029, or after President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. 's term.
In a presscon after the inspection of the tunnel boring machines at the North EDSA station, DOTr admitted only Thursday that 45 percent of ROW is being stalled by refusal of homeowners and a Department of Education building that would be traversed by the subway project to sell to the government portions to be affected.
The only option left is expropriation of the property as a “last resort.”
“We’re on top of these, we are expecting we should be able to resolve all these RoW issues in due time,” DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista told reporters.
Excavation in North Avenue is starting this month, and within 12 months, this would reach the Tandang Sora station.
He said he is still optimistic of completing the project by 2029.
Expropriation
DoTr Undersecretary for Railways Jeremy Regino joined Bautista in the inspection and said the government’s expropriation power to be used only in case of an impasse with property owners affected by the project.
“We have now shortened the negotiation process. If there will be no agreement, we will have to file expropriation proceedings but without prejudice to continue with the negotiations,” Regino said.
He explained that expropriation is not a forced occupation but a “just compensation,” once the government is granted a writ of possession, “it does not bar the continuation and conclusion of a successful negotiation.”
The project’s current completion rate (boring) is only 40 percent and construction (of posts, tunneling works and concourses for the stations of East Valenzuela, Quirino Highway, Tandang Sora and North Avenue) rate is at 11 percent, said project engineer Mikee Mendoza.
Regino said DOTr will double down on the acquisition of easement with the filing of expropriation petitions.
“We have shortened the negotiation process. If there will be no agreement we will have to file expropriation proceedings but without prejudice to continue negotiations.”
“We are doing our best to convince property owners, all things considered, that their concerns are already factored in,” Regino said.
Negotiations
Bautista said some homeowners are still contesting the passage of the subway under their properties.
Negotiations are also ongoing in the case of affected buildings which are classified as important cultural properties under Republic Act No. 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009, including one owned by the Department of Education. 3 contracts remaining
Once the right-of-way issues are settled, the DOTr secretary said they would award by the third quarter of this year the remaining three contracts for the Metro Subway project which cover the segments between stations on Kalayaan Avenue in Makati City; Bonifacio Global City, Lawton Avenue and Senate-DepEd in Taguig City; and Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3 in Pasay City.
“We need to make sure we will get the right-of-way. It will be a problem when we enter into a contract with a contractor, [while] we still have right-of-way issues. [The contractor] might not be able to start on time,” Bautista stressed.
Mikaela Eloisa Mendoza, supervising transport development officer and project manager at the DOTr’s Rail Unified Project Management Office, said the MMSP’s progress rate was currently at around 40 percent overall and only 11 percent in terms of construction work.
Slow progress
The first underground railway in the country, the Metro Manila subway is a 33-kilometer railway system that will connect Valenzuela City to Pasay City with a spur line at the Naia Terminal 3.
Due to the slow progress in the acquisition of right of way, the government had to delay the award of Contract Packages (CP) 105, 108, 109 to the third quarter of 2024.CP 105 refers to the package that involves the underground stations in Kalayaan Avenue and Bonifacio Global City; CP 108, Lawton and Senate-DepEd Stations; and CP 109, the Naia Terminal 3 station.
“We first have to secure the right-of-way, because it will be our problem when we enter into a contract with a contractor when we still have issues on right-of-way; the project might not start on time, there will be a prolongation,” Bautista said.
So far, the DOTr has awarded four contract packages for the project: CP 101 for the first four stations mentioned above; CP 102 for Quezon Avenue and East Avenue; CP 103 for Anonas to Camp Aguinaldo; and CP 104 for Ortigas to Shaw Boulevard.
The first underground railway in the country, the subway is envisioned to be a 33-kilometer railway system that will connect Valenzuela City to Pasay City with a spur line at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3 in Paranaque City.
Once operational, it is expected to reduce travel time from Valenzuela to Naia from one hour and 30 minutes to just 35 minutes, servicing some 519,000 passengers daily.