THE DEPARTMENT of Transportation (DoTr) said it will inspect this month the proposed realignment sites for Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7), a project of San Miguel Corp. (SMC).
“We had a meeting last month with the San Jose del Monte LGU (local government unit). We have agreed that this June, we will do the site inspection,” Transportation Assistant Secretary for railways Jorjette B. Aquino told reporters on the sidelines of a forum on Tuesday.
“We will study the realignment,” she added.
Last week, the Transportation department announced three realignment proposals from the Bulacan local government.
In a May 28 interview with Radyo5, TV5’s radio station, Bulacan Mayor Arthur B. Robes said that the San Jose del Monte route should use the bypass roads rather than the Quirino highway.
“The Tungkong Mangga, a barangay in San Jose del Monte, if you put up poles there, the area will not be passable anymore because the road is too narrow,” he said.
“The Tungkong Mangga is initially part of the original route, but (the original plan) will pass through the back end and not the existing national road. Tungkong Mangga is huge but the national road is too narrow,” he added.
MRT-7, which will have 14 stations, will run from Quezon City to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, and is expected to carry 300,000 passengers daily in its first year, and up to 850,000 passengers a day in its 12th year.
SMC is financing the construction and will operate the 23-kilometer commuter rail system after signing a 25-year concession agreement with the government.
With the recent realignment proposals, SMC is also conducting feasibility and ridership studies to determine whether the realignment sites are viable, Ms. Aquino said.
“Our discussion with San Jose del Monte LGU and SMC is ongoing, but we have already scheduled a joint inspection to assess the proposed alignments,” she noted.
In May, Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista said the MRT-7 project was experiencing delays due to the right-of-way issues in San Jose del Monte.
DoTr has said the MRT-7 project will still start partial operations, or up to its 12th station, by December 2025.
Once the right-of-way issues are resolved, the station in Bulacan will be operated between 2027 and 2028. — A.E.O. Jose
DoTr: SMC conducting feasibility on realignment sites for MRT-7’s Bulacan segment
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