By Aerol John Pateña with reports from Irish Cana/PNA
MANILA — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Wednesday signed a contract with a private consortium for the construction of Area A of the Unified Grand Central Station (UGCS) or the common station which is located between SM North Edsa and Trinoma in Quezon City.
The DOTr signed the contract with BF Corporation and Foresight Development and Surveying Company (FDSC) Consortium which will be in charge of the construction of Area A of the common station.
“The common station aims to ensure an integrated, interoperable, and intermodal system that will ensure comfort and convenience for our commuters,” DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade said in an interview with reporters at the sidelines of the contract signing at the construction site of the common station in Quezon City.
The common station aims to connect the major railway systems in Metro Manila– the Light Rail Transit Line (LRT-1), Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3), Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7) and the Metro Manila Subway which will enable passengers to seamlessly transfer from one rail line to another.
The common station which will have a 13,000 square meter concourse will consist of three components which will connect LRT-1, MRT-3 and MRT-7.
Area A, estimated to cost around PHP2.7 billion will cover the platforms for LRT-1 and MRT-3 to be handled by the DOTr.
BF Corporation-FDSC Consortium has committed to complete the construction of Area A by October next year.
“As per contract, this project shall be completed in 20 months. By Valentine’s next year, we should be completing physically the project maybe 60 percent or more in physical progress. Our completion is by October 2020,” BF Corporation general manager Lucenda Vergara said.
Area B, which will connect Areas A and B, will be built by North Triangle Depot Commercial Corporation (NTDCC), an affiliate of Ayala Land while Area C which covers the platform for MRT-7 is still being constructed by the San Miguel Corporation.
The Ayala Land has committed to finish the construction of Area B by next year, according to the DOTr.
Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan Jr. said the department is eyeing the operations of the common station to start by the end of 2020.
“As much as possible we want them to be open at the same time by the end of 2020,” Batan said.
The common station is expected to serve around 500,000 passengers daily upon its completion.
It is a joint project of the DOTr, SM Prime Holdings, Inc., Universal LRT Corporation Limited of the San Miguel Corporation, Light Rail Manila Corporation, North Triangle Depot Commercial Corporation, Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Light Rail Transit Authority.
A memorandum of agreement was signed by the government, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, SMPH Director Hans T. Sy, Ayala Corp. chief executive officer Jaime Zobel de Ayala, and SMC president and CEO Ramon S. Ang on January 2017 which ended the eight-year impasse over its location.
