Source: Inquirer
Monorail project may be done through PPP program
MANILA, Philippines—A new commuter train line may soon connect the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) terminal 3 to the Fort Bonifacio and Makati central business districts, according to the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).
BCDA Chairman Felicito Payumo said the government firm was recently approached by a foreign group that was studying the construction of a new monorail system.
Speaking before members of the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham), Payumo said the project would be implemented through the public-private partnership concept being espoused by the Aquino administration.
If it pushes through, the new train line would be called the Makati-Taguig-Pasay Monorail Alignment, which is meant to address the growing demand for efficient mass transport systems over the next five years.
Payumo said the projected monorail system would link up with the Metro Rail Transit (Taft to North Avenue), the Light Rail Transit line 1 (Baclaran to Roosevelt) and the Philippine National Railways (PNR) system, which cuts across Metro Manila toward the Southern Luzon regions.
“The interconnection is envisioned to form a loop around the projected service areas covered by the three rail transit systems,” a BCDA statement issued Monday quoted Payumo as saying.
The BCDA said it would like to spearhead the project’s implementation since most of the areas it would cover—the Villamor Air Base in front of Naia 3 and the Fort Bonifacio area—were BCDA developments.
Payumo said designers for the proposed project favored an elevated monorail because of the narrow streets of Makati and Taguig City.
But the BCDA said the project was still being studied and more details would be announced once a more definite deal with the project’s proponents has been signed. The BCDA likewise declined to name the foreign company that proposed to build the new train line.
