The Department of Transportation said Wednesday it expects to start the civil works for the construction of three busway concourses along Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue within the year.
DOTr Undersecretary for road transport and infrastructure Mark Steven Pastor said the target ground breaking of the EDSA Busway concourses is “absolutely within the year.”
“We’re behind schedule because of the design issues. Right now, we are working on permits from DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways],” he said.
The SM Group and the DOTr signed a memorandum of agreement for the construction of the EDSA Busway concourses in November 2020.
Under the agreement, the concourses are to be built at SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City and SM North EDSA in Quezon City.
SM invested over P120 million for the project.
The EDSA Concourse Project is envisioned to provide safer, more convenient access to the stations of the EDSA Busway and give a better commuting experience to Filipinos, with these concourses designed and equipped with ticketing booths, automatic fare collection system turnstiles and concierges, which will allow all transport transactions to take place at the concourses, prior to the onboarding of passengers.
Once completed, the concourses would serve around 300,000 daily commuters along EDSA.
The concourses are expected to boost the efficiency of the EDSA Busway―a joint project of the DOTr, DPWH and the Metro Manila Development Authority.
The government launched the EDSA Busway at the height of the pandemic in June 2020 to provide seamless movement of high-capacity public utility buses.