PARTIES involved in the construction of the long-delayed common station for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1, the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 and the future MRT Line 7 have agreed to make “passenger comfort” as the main consideration in the crafting of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) that they are set to sign on Wednesday.
“The memorandum of agreement will include the details that all parties will subscribe to to ensure high level of service to passengers,” Transportation Spokesman Cherie Mercado-Santos replied via text, when asked to give more details on the MOA that officials from the transportation and public works departments, and executives from Ayala Corp., San Miguel Corp., SM Prime Holdings Inc. and Light Rail Manila Corp. will sign.
She did not elaborate, although she did say the main consideration in crafting the agreement is passenger comfort.
“We have moved forward with the designs. Basically, from the past signing, we worked on all parties’ interests with the prime consideration of passengers’ comfort,” Santos said. “That we have achieved now—all parties agreeing to a design that puts passengers comfort at prime priority. At the same time, recognizing commitments given to them by the past administration.”
Last September 28 all the parties “agreed” to construct the common alignment for the LRT Line 1, the MRT Line 3 and the future MRT Line 7 at the Paramount Building, placing it at the middle of the malls of SM and Ayala.
Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade is happy about this development, which was “not an easy task”. “We’re happy and proud we have managed to get everyone on a platform of level of service to passengers,” Santos said.
The common station was in limbo for a couple of years after its conception, after getting a stay order from the Supreme Court due to a possible breach in the original contract. SM Prime sued the previous transport officials for changing the location of the common station, even with an existing naming-rights contract with the government.
While the previous administration pegged the price of the common alignment at a range of P1.4 billion to P2.6 billion, the final cost of the infrastructure will only be determined after the engineering and design have been finished.
When built, the common station will provide easy access to both malls and major roads like Edsa, and will provide a common concourse or atrium to facilitate easy train-line transfer.