FOOD-BASED conglomerate San Miguel Corporation (SMC), which will serve as the sole concessionaire of the multibillion peso Metro Rail Transit-7 project connecting Quezon City to Bulacan province north of Manila, assured the commuting public of “great relief” when the transport facility becomes operational in 2020.

MRT-7 is expected to accommodate 850, 000 passengers a day.

“It will decongest Metro Manila and make Bulacan a more viable location for residential developments, call centers and BPO businesses,” SMC Chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr said during a stockholders’ meeting on Tuesday.

The P69.30-billion MRT-7 project includes the construction of 14 stations that will connect North Avenue in Quezon City to San Jose del Monte town in Bulacan.

SMc also said Bulacan province will benefit from the incoming investment and the additional infrastructure in the area.

“It will inconvenience the public in a while but once it is completed, there will be great relief. Traveling from Quezon City to Bulacan would already cost less,” SMC President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon S. Ang told reporters later at a news conference.

The Regalado Highway in Quezon City has been closed temporarily to give way to the construction of MRT-7, which is expected to be completed in 2019.

Ang said the Skyway 3 connecting Buendia to Balintawak will be finished by the last quarter of 2019, and the construction of the expressway connecting Rosario to La Union will be finished next year.

SMC is also hopeful of connecting the South Luzon Expressway to Tagaytay, Ang added.

14 June 2017
By Reicelene Joy Ignacio