The Philippines government has signed an agreement with contractors Grandi Lavori Fincosit and Societa Esecuzione Lavori Idraulici for a $700M Manila subway project linking the metropolis’ vital central business districts (CBDs).
Recently, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the two Italian companies for a tunnel project to link up the CBDs at Fort Bonifacio and Ayala Avenue, Makati City with those of the Greenhills and the Ortigas Center CBDs in Mandaluyong City.
The 10km long tunnel section of the subway will run from the Fort Bonifacio CBD, going through EDSA and connecting the Ortigas, Greenhills and Shaw Boulevard commercial centres.
If the project starts next year, the subway will be operational by 2004, according to DOTC officials.
So far, the engineering study of the subway project is finished and the proponents are targeting a financial closing by next year.
The Italian builders, who already have their boring equipment in the country from an earlier dam project and need only a retool, are considering undertaking the subway as a Build-Transfer scheme.
The only setback so far is the absence of tunnelling laws in the country.
"We have no clear tunnelling law," DOTC officials pointed out. "What we have is a land use plan, but it is ambiguous. In other countries, private landowners can only lay claim to land up to a certain depth below the ground. Beyond that, the government owns the land and can tunnel underneath."
Overseas, construction authorities also specify a mandatory "roof protection" for tunnels, prohibiting the digging of wells or building of any structure where tunnels are located.
So far, the DOTC has not pushed any tunnelling bill in the legislature.
"But we have identified the need for such a mandate. We know we need to draft a resolution," the official noted. "Right now, we are discussing the issue with the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA)."
