Philippine's First Metro Subway Station Will Be Ready by 2022

The Philippine government under President Rodrigo Duterte's Administration and the Japan International Cooperation Agency or JICA has just signed last Friday a financial agreement for the first part of the Philippine's Metro Manila Subway project. And in 4 years, its first three stations are expected to start operating.

The first three subway station that Filipinos can expect to have in 2022 are Mindanao Avenue-Quirino Highway, Tandang Sora and one in North Avenue. Once the project is completed, it can be expected that the stations will extend from Cavite in the south up to Bulacan in the north. It will consist of a 30-kilometer underground passage that will pass through Mindanao Avenue to Ninoy Aquino International Airport consisting of 14 stations.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the central zones of the subway should be operational by 2025 which also comes with commercial spaces in each station. It is built with seismic technology and flood management features so the safety of its passengers is a priority. At the same time, the government will provide necessary training to all operating personnels, conduct research and development so they can build expert employees to manage the whole system. Right now, they are already working 25/8 to finish the project as soon as possible.

The financial agreement with Japan includes a loan deal amount of 51 billion pesos according to GMA News Online and comes with a 0.10 percent interest rate per annum for non-consulting services while a 0.01 percent per annum interest rate is charged for consulting services. This is to be repaid by the country in 40 years which has a 12-year grace period.