Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said the construction of the Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7), which will connect Quezon City to Bulacan, is in “full swing” despite the persisting coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
According to Tugade, the 22-kilometer rail line which will carry train riders from North Avenue in Quezon City all the way to San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan has already reached a 60.93 percent completion rate as of Thursday, July 22.
Once fully completed, MRT-7 will significantly reduce travel time between Quezon City and Bulacan to just 35 minutes from the usual two to three hours.
The 14-station rail line is also expected to accommodate 300,000 to 850,000 passengers daily.
Partial operations of the MRT-7, which will include train runs for Stations 4 to 8 without passengers, is targeted for April 2022, while full operations is expected by the fourth quarter of 2022.
“It took nearly 20 years from the submission of the unsolicited proposal before the actual construction started,” Tugade said in his Facebook post.
The DOTr chief shared that the MRT-7 unsolicited proposal was first submitted to Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) in August 2001, while the concession agreement was signed in August 2008.
The DOTC is the precursor of the DOTr.
Published July 23, 2021, 1:46 PM
by Alexandria Dennise San Juan, Manila Bulletin
