The Metro Manila Subway Project is getting another P34.6 billion in new funding in 2021, as the national government ramps up infrastructure spending for public railways, according to Makati City representative Luis Campos Jr., House appropriations committee vice chairperson.
The P34.6 billion is on top of the combined P11.3 earmarked this year and in 2019 for Phase 1 of the country’s first underground commuter train system that will run from Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to NAIA Terminal 3 in Pasay City.
In the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021, Campos said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has a total capital outlay of P96.2 billion to advance Luzon’s upcoming railways, including the allocation for the 36-kilometer Metro Manila Subway.
“There’s no question the future of our mass transportation is in dependable, fast, organized and safe train systems,” Campos said. “We expect up to 75 percent of Filipinos to live and work in congested cities in the years ahead, and the only way we can efficiently move people around will be through high-capacity trains either below the ground or in elevated structures,” Campos said.
Under the DOTr’s Railway Construction, Rehabilitation and Improvement Sub-Program, Campos said the North-South Commuter Railway Project is getting another P58.6 billion.
The 147-kilometer elevated train will run from Calamba, Laguna to New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac, and have a direct link to Clark International Airport in the cities of Angeles and Mabalacat in Pampanga.
Campos also said the South Long-Haul Project of the Philippine National Railways is getting a further P3 billion. The 639-kilometer train will link up Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Bicol and cut travel time between Manila and Legazpi City from 13 hours to just six hours.
Meanwhile, the local government of Makati earlier this year gave Philippine Infradev Holdings Inc. the official notice to proceed with the planned 11-kilometer Makati Intra-city Subway, a public-private partnership project. Makati’s own underground rapid transit network will be interconnected to the MRT 3 and the Metro Manila Subway.
