The Department of Transportation said Thursday it is set to break ground for the P355.6-billion Metro Manila Subway Project, one of the big-ticket infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration, next week.
“The Metro Manila Subway is the Philippines’ first-ever underground railway system. Before, people cast doubts and said it is all but a dream. But on Feb. 27, we will show them that this is real,” Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said.
Officials of the DOTr went to Osaka, Japan on Feb. 19 to inspect the tunnel boring machines manufactured by Hitachi Zosen in Sakai City.
The factory of Hitachi Zosen’s Sakai Works already manufactured 1,300 tunneling machines and has a track record of 130 tunnels overseas.
HZSW showed during the site inspection its Neo Rirse technology “• a no engine power and no human operation rising sea wall that automatically rises to protect any structure from incoming floodwater, which is being considered for installation at the entrances of the Metro Manila Subway stations.
A tunnel boring machine is used to excavate tunnels using a circular cross-section mechanism. It utilizes sophisticated technology that minimizes the vibration above the ground and ground subsidence or surface sinking. It is a requisite in building subway systems.
The 6.9-meter diameter tunnel boring machine being considered for the Metro Manila Subway weighs more than 600 tons. In the process of procurement, the machine has to be assembled in Japan for a test run. Upon passing the tests, the machine has to be disassembled, shipped to the Philippines in parts, where it will be assembled again for construction use.
The Metro Manila Subway is expected to start partial operations by 2022 with three stations at North Ave., Mindanao Ave. and Tandang Sora in Quezon City.
Full operations of the Metro Manila Subway are expected by 2025.
The first phase of the project is a 25-kilometer underground railway, costing P355.6 billion with a total of 14 stations from Mindanao Ave. to Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The Philippine government signed a loan agreement with the Japanese government amounting to P51.3 billion in March 2018.