The 22-kilometer Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 7 that will connect Quezon City and Bulacan is expected to be finished in the last quarter of 2019, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said.

“We have already agreed that this will be completed in two years, last quarter of 2019,” Tugade said in a news briefing in Quezon City on Thursday.

The project will have 14 stations between North Avenue in Quezon City and San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan.

The stations are: North Avenue, Quezon City Memorial Circle, University Avenue, Tandang Sora, Don Antonio, Batasan, Manggahan, Doña Carmen, Regalado, Mindanao Avenue, Quirino, Sacred Heart, Tala and San Jose del Monte.

“It is about 36 train sets or 108 cars [that will ply the route]. [This number] is enough to carry 500,000 passengers per day,” according to Norberto Conti, head of the technical infrastructure department of San Miguel Holdings Corp.

The project will be constructed by stakeholder San Miguel Holdings Corp. through the consortium of Hyundai Rotem Co. and EEI Corp., its contractor.

Conti said excavation for an underground tunnel in QC Memorial Circle Station is ongoing.

Tugade asked for the public’s understanding regarding traffic congestion that may result from project construction.

He said possible gridlock in Regalado will be alleviated by November this year.

BY REICELENE JOY IGNACIO