Makati council OKs $3.5-billion subway project

MANILA, Philippines — The Makati council on Friday approved the city’s biggest public-private partnership project (PPP) to construct, operate and manage the $3.5-billion intra-city subway.

With the council’s stamp of approval, the local government can proceed with the signing of the joint venture agreement with its private partner Philippine Infradev Holdings Inc.

City administrator Claro Certeza, who chairs Makati’s PPP selection committee, said the agreement signing is subject to the company’s compliance with several conditions.

 These include the posting of a performance security and the submission of the list and role of members of the consortium that will undertake the project, company registration documents and copies of the resolutions adopted by their respective boards of directors.

Certeza said the passage of the ordinance coincided with the completion of the final soil testing for the planned underground rail system.

“The experts who conducted soil testing along the subway’s proposed alignment completed the task. They found that the soil is stable and the project can proceed with no foreseen hitches,” he said.

The geo-testing that began last year involved drilling small holes and getting soil and rock samples for analysis from at least 200 points along the proposed subway alignment.

Earlier, Makati Mayor Abby Binay said the subway project would create close to 10,000 jobs.

Based on the plan, the subway would connect key points in Makati such as the Central Business District at the corner of Ayala and Gil Puyat Avenues, Circuit Makati, city hall, Poblacion Heritage Site, University of Makati, Ospital ng Makati and other new business districts in the city.