Yes, part of Meralco Avenue really is closed until 2028

Parts of Meralco Avenue, a vital thoroughfare for Metro Manila commuters in Pasig City, will be shut to traffic for six years for the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) construction work.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista led on Oct. 3, 2022, the groundbreaking ceremony of the project, which has faced numerous delays since its announcement in 2017.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said in a press statement that the closure will cover the front section of Capital Commons until the corner of Shaw Boulevard.

Meanwhile, the Metro Manila Development Authority released a rerouting plan for motorists:

• Public Utility Jeepneys – From Meralco Avenue going to Shaw Boulevard, drivers will be rerouted to Captain Henry Javier Street to Danny Floro Street and vice versa.

• Modernized Jeepneys – From Meralco Avenue to Shaw Boulevard, drivers will be rerouted to Dona Julia Vargas Avenue to San Miguel Avenue and vice versa.

• UV Express – From Meralco Avenue to Shaw Boulevard, drivers will be rerouted to Dona Julia Vargas Avenue to San Miguel Avenue or Anda Road to Camino Verde

• Private Vehicles – All available routes are accessible.

‘Crown jewel’ of Metro Manila mass transit

Bautista said the project will be the country’s first underground railway system, calling it the “crown jewel” of Metro Manila’s notoriously overloaded public transport system. 

It will have 17 stations and serve commuters traveling between Valenzuela and Bicutan, which spans over 33 kilometers. The Meralco Avenue closure will be for the construction of the Ortigas and Shaw Boulevard stations, also known as Contract Package 104 (CP104).

“We are running at full speed on this project,” Bautista said in a speech. “We owe it to the commuting public.”

CP104 is 3.4 kilometers long, with the two stations connected by a 920.5-meter tunnel that extends to 1.86-kilometer tunnels connecting Shaw Boulevard to the Kalayaan Avenue station in Taguig City.

The first phase of CP104 is a P17.75 billion contract awarded to Tokyu-Tobishima Megawide Joint Venture.

The DOTr said the MMSP is supported by loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Japanese government agency that provides low-interest funding for development projects in other countries.

The DOTr added that it is targeting initial operations by 2025. Once operational, the MMSP can accommodate more than 519,000 passengers a day and reduce travel time between Valenzuela and Bicutan to just 45 minutes.

Five years in the making

The MMSP is the latest iteration of a long-standing plan to build a subway under Metro Manila, conceptualized under the first Marcos administration in 1973.

The DOTr unveiled on April 2017 the Mega Manila Subway as one of the significant infrastructure projects of then-President Rodrigo Duterte, who also attended the MMSP groundbreaking.

Some construction work began in 2019 but was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic the year after. On June 12, 2022, the DOTr positioned the first tunnel-boring machine in Valenzuela City.

JICA said in a 2014 report that road congestion in the Philippines costs ₱2.4 billion a day. This was computed in terms of time lost, fuel spent, wear and tear on vehicles, and the harm to people's health and the environment.

The agency added that this cost may reach ₱6 billion a day by 2030 if no intervention is done to help commuters travel faster.

Do you think this massive project will be worth the six-year wait?