Gov't allots

P1.5 billion
Metro subway
TIIE national government is spending
aninitial P1.5 billion this year for Phase
I of the 36-kilomeier M€ho Manila
Subway Project, Makati City Rep. Luis
Campos Jr. said Sunday.
Thi amount covers the PhiliPPine
govemment's "counterpajt funding" for
ttre project and is lodged in the budget
of the Departrnent of Transportdion"
according to Campos, a deputy minority
leader and ex-officio mernber of the
House appropriations commifiee.
"
Phase'I of the countrY's fiiit
i undcrground rapid transit system is
11 being bankrolled by a P5l 3-billion

, ofrcial development assistance, also

I known as a discorrnted lcan, fronr Japan
Intemational Cooperation Agency'
"Ir4etro Manila could use two or thrce
more sulways over the 10 to 20 Years
to eftciently convey large numbers of
commuters." Camoos said.
Campos pirintei out that the National
Capital Region's peak l5-million
daytime population could easily surge
to 20 million in the vean ahead.
'Elecric rains tetoi eiuia oftr
lhe fistest way for rs lo nnve iens of
thousands of people---wheftu over long
or short disances---rrithout adding to r@d
cmg€stion above gou4" Campos said
'There's really no other oPtion,
except to build our fuhre Passenger
rains in tunnels, considering drat
we can no longer widen our roads,"
Campos added.
The DOTr recently bmke ground for
the construction of the Meno Manila
Subway's train depot in BarangaY
Ugong, Valenzuela City.
Onc€ completed, subway trains are
projected to run at 35 to 48 kilometers
per hciur and traverse 15 underground
stations from Mindanao Avenue-
Quirino Highway in Quezon Ciry all the
way to lhe Food Teminal Inc. Complex
in Taguig City in just 3l to 42 minutes.
The subway would enable passengers
from Quezon City to rcach the NAIA
Terminal 3 in under 30 minutes.
Some 365,000 passeng€rs arc
exDected to take the subwaY everY
day on its first year of full operations
in 2025. The number is anticipated to
surge io 973,000 by 2035.
The subway's first three sations in
Quezon City are due for completion
. beforc President Rodrigo Duterte's term
ends in 2022.

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