ADB to lend $1 billion for MRT 4

MANILA, Philippines — The government has upgraded the P59-billion railway project connecting Quezon City and Rizal province from monorail to metro rail, as it closes in on a $1 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to get the project started.

Transportation Undersecretary Cesar Chavez told The STAR the government is set to sign next year the $1-billion loan from the ADB to fund the construction of the Manila Metro Rail Transit Line 4 (MRT-4).

“Loan signing is expected next year, by 2023, as it is already part of ADB’s committed loans for next year,” Chavez said.

Likewise, he said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has upgraded the MRT-4 into a metro rail system for capacity, maintainability and expandability purposes. Previously, the DOTr had planned on making the MRT-4 a monorail system to require less space for its operations.

Spanish multinational IDOM Consulting, Engineering and Architecture, tasked to do the detailed architectural and engineering design for MRT-4, proposed three options in building the rail line. A copy of the design obtained by the STAR showed IDOM endorsed either a monorail, light rail or metro rail design for the project.

IDOM said the use of monorail allows for automated operations that enable short headways and maximize system capacity and causes minimal visual impact to fit the urban environment.

On the other hand, a metro rail may mean that MRT-4 will take up a wider space, but it will also raise its passenger capacity.

IDOM, in its study, found out that the ridership demand in the areas to be serviced by the MRT-4 requires the use of a metro rail system, especially as the project will serve as the primary transit going to and from Rizal.

Further, IDOM said upgrading MRT-4 to a metro rail ensures that the government can easily fix and improve the infrastructure given the availability of technical suppliers for such a system. It is for these reasons that the DOTr abandoned the monorail plan and went for the metro rail option.

“After additional due diligence by the Spanish firm IDOM, it was found that the ridership demand of the San Juan-Rizal corridor along Ortigas Avenue is far higher than originally estimated. And to accommodate this higher demand, it was necessary for upgrade to the higher capacity MRT trains,” Chavez said.

“It is far easier to maintain a standard MRT-type system, as there are more expertise and spare part suppliers of standard MRT-type railways,” he added.

The transport official also disclosed that the government could extend MRT-4 in the future from its current end point of Taytay to Binangonan, the southernmost municipality of Rizal.