DOTR: MRT Common Station in Quezon City Will Be Finished by the End of the Month
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The MRT Common Station—a transport hub that will connect different railway lines in Quezon City—will be completed by the end of March 2022, the Department of Transportation said on Sunday (March 6).
"Notwithstanding the fact that I did not close Edsa to traffic, notwithstanding the fact that I did not suspend or realign the operations of the MRT 3, the construction of the Common Station’s building structure will be completed by end of March," DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade said.
The project, which will link the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1, the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3, MRT Line 7 and the Metro Manila Subway, was expected to be finished by 2020 but encountered delays due to legal disputes and the pandemic. It is estimated to have cost about P2.8 billion.
In his latest update about the project, Tugade said the Station Building of Area A is now connected to Area B or the Atrium, which is now 100 percent complete. The concourse, which is the main passenger hub of the Common Station is expected to start operations by July.
The contractor assigned to the project, BF Corp, said it intends to implement 24/7 construction works in order to meet all of the timelines set by the DOTr.
“You can see that the status of the station building is well on its way and we are rushing,” Marides Fernando, BF Corp. CEO said.
"I will henceforth, until my term ends, inspect and make sure that the electromechanical system will also be in place so that this Common Station—a long-time dream of the Filipino people—will come into reality,” Tugade added. “I hope it can be done during the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.”
The Common Station can accommodate almost 500,000 passengers daily.
The project was first proposed in 2011 and went through several disputes involving private companies, including the SM Group, Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Corp, and government agencies. The groundbreaking ceremony was finally held in September 2017 and construction commenced soon after.
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