Subway project at full throttle as government completes procurement

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has finished the procurement for the remaining segments of the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP), promising to award the deals before the end of the year.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista told reporters that the government is close to naming the developers for the final contract packages – CPs 105, 108 and 109 – of the MMSP.

CP 105 connects Kalayaan in Makati City with Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, while CP 108 covers the Lawton to Senate stretch of the subway. CP 109 comprises the spur line that leads to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the southernmost station of the P488.48-billion project backed by Japan.

Bautista said the DOTr has completed the procurement for the CPs and it is now up to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to go over the proposals of the bidders.

At this rate, Bautista is confident that the DOTr can award CPs 105, 108 and 109 before yearend. He underscored the urgency of getting the civil works started for these segments, as the DOTr aspires to finish the subway as scheduled by 2029.

“Actually, we have finished the procurement process, and we are just waiting for the award. The review is ongoing. JICA will play an important role in finalizing the procurement. It is reviewing the proposals, so we wait for it,” Bautista said.

“We should be able to award (the remaining CPs) maybe before the end of the year,” he added.

Originally, the DOTr was planning to award CPs 105, 108 and 109 to their contractors in the first quarter of the year, but had to move the timeline on delays in right-of-way (ROW) acquisition.

The DOTr had to procure the ROW for the CPs first before their contractors are named, otherwise the government will incur losses.

Without the proper ROW, developers would need to slow down the construction in the segments assigned to them. Bautista warned that the government bleeds in such a scenario, as delays lead to more expenses and, eventually, raise the cost of the project.

As of March, the government has secured more than half of the ROW of the MMSP. The DOTr is working on the procurement for the remaining ROW, conducting parcellary surveys and property appraisals along the alignment.