Government delays bidding for subway project

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines will have to wait until the next administration to have its very first subway line after the government decided to “postpone” the bidding of a project that will run from Makati City to Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig.

“We will postpone it because the DOTC already has so many projects being completed,” PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao told reporters on Wednesday.

She was pertaining to the 12-kilometer underground mass transit system loop that will connect the country’s top financial districts of Makati and BGC with Pasay at SM Mall of Asia.

The project, which will be implemented by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), was already approved by the investment coordinating committee of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-ICC) last January.

It still needs approval from the Cabinet-level NEDA Board, chaired by President Aquino, before it could be bid out to investors. The project is so far the most expensive under the flagship PPP program, costing about P374 billion.

“There was no problem with the viability of the project. It’s just that the DOTC is already doing a lot of projects now,” Canilao said on the sidelines of a forum in Makati City.

Of the 10 projects already awarded since November 2010, the DOTC oversees the implementation of four namely the automated fare collection system at three Manila railways, the building and maintenance of Mactan Cebu International Airport, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 extension and operation and maintenance, and the Southwest Integrated Transport System Project.