Government receives proposal to put up MRT-11

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has received an unsolicited proposal to construct a P82-billion rail service that would run from Quezon City to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista yesterday confirmed that a private firm has submitted an unsolicited proposal to build the Metro Rail Transit Line 11 (MRT-11).

The proposed rail line will start from Balintawak in Quezon City and end in San Jose del Monte in Bulacan, delivering another transit option for commuters traveling through that area.

According to Bautista, approval of the proposal may take a year as long as the proponent submits all the requirements on time. The proponent is scheduled to provide this week additional details about its plan to put up the rail service.

“When the documents are complete, we will review it. Since it is an unsolicited proposal, it will be subjected to a Swiss challenge, so probably within the year (we can finalize it),” Bautista said in an interview with reporters.

Under the Duterte administration, Aerorail Integrated Transport Services Inc. submitted a similar proposal to deliver the MRT-11.

Aerorail’s version of the MRT-11 seeks to deliver an 18-kilometer elevated railway starting from Balintawak in Quezon City to Barangay Gaya-Gaya in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

It will pass through some of the busiest thoroughfares to the north of Metro Manila, namely Quirino Highway, Novaliches and Zabarte Road.

Aerorail had also wanted to build a transfer facility that will allow passengers to transfer to the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1’s Balintawak Station.

Apart from MRT-11, the DOTr is studying multiple proposals to build new rail lines, such as the Fort Bonifacio-Makati-Bonifacio Global City Skytrain; MRT Line 10; and LRT Line 6.

Similarly, the DOTr aims to open the Unified Grand Central Station linking MRT-3, MRT-7 and LRT-1 within the year, with the contractor rushing to finish the infrastructure’s signaling system.