What you need to know about the Makati City Subway
MANILA, Philippines — The Makati City government and Philippine Infradev Holdings Inc. sealed Tuesday a joint venture agreement for the $3.5 billion Makati City Subway — which will be known as MkTr.
Touted as the biggest public-private partnership project for a local government unit, the Makati City Subway will connect key points and cut travel time within the city once completed.
Philippine Infradev, formerly IRC Properties Inc., earlier received the green light to proceed with the subway project after the firm hurdled a 60-day Swiss Challenge and obtained the approval from the city council.
In undertaking the project, Philippine Infradev partnered with Chinese companies Greenland Holdings Group, Jiangsu Provincial Construction Group Co. Ltd. Holdings Ltd. and China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange, Infradev said it submitted to the Makati government a $350 million performance bond for the project, which was a pre-condition for the signing of the joint venture agreement with the city.
Philippine Infradev President and CEO Antonio Tiu recently announced the completion of a six-month soil testing along the proposed alignment of the 10-kilometer intracity subway system “with no adverse findings.”
“It's all systems go,” Infradev said in a press release.
Air-conditioned stations
The subway will have up to 10 air-conditioned, underground island stations and would connect the following key points in Makati:
- Central Business District at the corner of Ayala and Sen. Gil Puyat Avenues
- Circuit City
- Makati City Hall
- University of Makati
- Ospital ng Makati
The project — which is expected to cater more than 700,000 commuters per day — can accommodate up to six car trains with a capacity of 200 persons each car.
Infradev said Makati's intra-city subway will complement the government’s mass transport projects as it would be integrated with the proposed Metro Manila Mega Subway project, MRT stations and the Pasig River ferry.
The company reportedly targets the railway system to start operations in 2025. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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