New Metro Manila subway contractor to be named this month

MANILA, Philippines — The government is set to name this month the Japanese contractor for the Metro Manila subway, a project which is expected to address traffic congestion in the metro.

Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan said the subway would have a Japanese contractor since the project is being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

“We’ll finalize the process first, then we’ll announce because the process is still ongoing. We don’t want to preempt the procurement process,” said Batan, adding that the contract should be signed within the month.

“In our Japanese and Chinese projects, the lead contractor is always their national. They always partner with locals but that’s their call already, we are not involved there,” he said.

The DOTr is targeting to break ground for the project on Dec. 19.

The Metro Manila subway is a 35-kilometer line that will run from Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to NAIA in Pasay City.

Partial operations is eyed by 2022, which entails the opening of a training center, the depot, and three stations namely, Quirino Highway, Tandang Sora, and North Avenue.

With a total project cost of P356.96 billion, the subway is the biggest single project under the Build Build Build program of the Duterte administration.  

Last March, JICA and the Philippine government signed a 104.53-billion-yen (about P51.34 billion) loan agreement for the construction of the first phase of the Metro Manila subway project.