THE House of Representatives will review the agreement to build a common terminal linking Light Railway Transit Line 1 and Metro Rail Transit Lines 1 and 7, which would cost the government an estimated P2.8 billion, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Thursday.
He said the review would ensure that the construction of the common station would be beneficial to the riding public and not merely to the businesses involved in the project.
“The cost is so huge. Is the proposal for a common station for the convenience of the passengers?” Alvarez said.
But the Transport Department defended the project. It said the project cost was now higher because the common station would now be bigger at 13,700 square meters compared with the 7,200 square meters proposed in 2009.
Under the agreement, the terminal will be located between SM North Edsa and the Trinoma mall on Edsa and North Avenue.
The deal to build the terminal was signed on Wednesday by Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and Public Works Secretary Mark Villar with LRT Authority Administrator Reynaldo Berroya, SM Prime Holdings Inc. executive chairman Hans Sy, Light Rail Manila Corp. vice chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, San Miguel Corp. president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang, and North Triangle Depot Commercial Corp. represented by Ayala Land Inc. vice chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.
Alvarez made his statement even as Rep. Carlos Zarate filed House Resolution 470 that aims to investigate the P2.8-billion common station because it was “extremely expensive.”
“From all indications, this is a very onerous deal and we may have no choice but to file a case at the Supreme Court, Zarate said.
Alvarez said the project was delayed because of the conflicting interests of the big private players in the common station.
The project ground to a halt when, in 2014, SM obtained an order from the Supreme Court stopping the Transport Department from transferring the original planned location of the common station in front of SM North EDSA to a location near the Ayalas’ Trinoma mall.
Alvarez said he would see to it that the project was above-board as the people would be at the losing end if it turned out to be anomalous.
“The [Transport Department] must be able to look at the interest of the public and not the interest of big businessmen,” he said.