NEWS

By Jel Santos

The public-private partnership project (PPP) to construct, operate, and manage the US$3.5-billion, or P178-billion, intra-city subway was approved by the Makati City Council last Friday.

The local government said that subway project will be the biggest PPP in Makati City.

The Philippine Infradev Holdings, Inc., formerly IRC, will be the private partner of Makati City in this project. Both parties will soon be signing a joint venture agreement.

Lawyer Claro Certeza, city administrator and current chair of Makati’s PPP selection committee, said the signing of the agreement will be subjected to IRC’s strict compliance to certain conditions.

He said that such conditions include the posting of performance security, list and role of final members of the IRC consortium that will undertake the project, company registration documents, and copies of the resolutions adopted by their respective boards of directors.

Coincidentally, passage of the ordinance giving green light to the subway project, and the completion of the final soil testing for the underground rail system happened on the same day, the city administrator said.

Certeza said that the soil testing conducted by experts yielded positive results as the soil was found to be “stable.”

“The experts who conducted soil testing along the subway’s proposed alignment completed the task on schedule with no significant findings. This means the soil is stable and the project can proceed with no foreseen hitches,” he said.

In December 2018, the geo-testing involved drilling small holes and getting soil and rock samples for analysis from at least 200 points along the proposed subway alignment.

To recall, Mayor Abigail Binay was eyeing to generate around 10,000 jobs for residents of Makati City and nearby cities after the construction of the subway.

Per IRC’s plan, the subway would connect key points in Makati such as the current Central Business District at the corner of Ayala and Gil

Puyat avenues, Circuit Makati, the Makati City Hall, the Poblacion Heritage Site, University of Makati, Ospital ng Makati and the other new business districts within the city.

The proposed dual track subway system, according to the local government, will have air-conditioned, underground island stations that can accommodate up to six car trains, with room for over 200 persons per car.

Source: Manila Bulletin