Meralco to power up Metro Manila subway

• The Department of Transportation and the Manila Electric Co. signed an agreement allowing the latter to supply power to the Metro Manila Subway, the country’s first-ever underground railway

• Meralco will finance, install, construct, control, operate and maintain the facilities at the Valenzuela depot

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will supply power to the Metro Manila Subway (MMS), the country’s first-ever underground railway.

The power distributor and Department of Transportation (DOTr) signed an agreement on Feb 15, which allows the latter to finance, construct, operate and maintain the power facilities at the subway’s Valenzuela depot.

DOTr will provide Meralco with a switching station area of 1,743 square meters for the interconnection of the MMS to Meralco’s distribution network.

“I would like to thank Meralco for your support as this agreement will help the Metro Manila Subway a step closer to reality,” Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista said at ceremonies for the Switching Station Agreement with Deeds of Usufruct.

Funded by the Japanese government, the 33-kilometer MMS, the first underground mass transit system in the Philippines, will have 17 stations running from Valenzuela City to FTI-Bicutan in Parañaque City, with a line connecting to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 in Pasay City.

Once fully operational, it can accommodate around 519,000 passengers daily and significantly reduce travel time between Quezon City to NAIA from 1.5 hours to 35 minutes. The MMS will also interconnect with other rail systems in Metro Manila.

The DOTr earlier said it targets partial operations to start in 2025, while the whole project is set to be completed in 2028.

The DOTr said the tunnel boring machine for the project’s Contract Package 104, which covers the first two stations at Ortigas and Shaw Boulevard, arrived at Manila port on January 1 and were brought to the stockyard at Doña Julia Vargas Ave. in Pasig City early this month.

Total project cost is pegged at P488.47 billion to be sourced through a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

In February 2022, the Philippines and Japan signed the JPY253.3 billion (P112.9 billion) loan agreement for the second tranche funding to be used to construct the MMS Phase 1. The first tranche of the loan worth JPY104.53 billion (about P47.58 billion or US$933.73 million) was signed in March 2018.