“We need support, hindi lang batikos at pagaalinlangan,” said Tugade in his message during the launching here recently of the point-to-point (P2P) Genesis Transport Service Inc. bus service between Clark International Airport and Ninoy Aquino International Airport NAIA), common station for the MRT and LRT in Metro Manila, and the Manila-Clark modern railway.
Tugade said the unity of the entire country would be needed to realize big projects in the next three years. Among the projects he cited were the Metro Manila subway,
“Pray for us so that we would be able to face issues so that the dream of Pampanga and the entire country can be realized,” he said.
He cited plans to meet anew with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the final detailed engineering design for the P227 billion Mega Manila Subway project, a 25-kilometer underground mass transportation system connecting major business districts and government centers, as well as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila.
“We want construction to start in the last quarter of 2018,” he said.
Tugade said this November, President Duterte and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Age will sign a loan agreement for the construction of the subway station in time for the project’s ground breaking in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Tugade also cited plans of the Duterte administration to finish in two to three years the P2.8-billion Metro Rail Transit (MRT)-Light Rail Transit (LRT) common station project whose groundbreaking was initially set for Sept. 29. The station is to be located between SM North EDSA and TriNoma malls.
The 13,700-squaremeter project was stalled by a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court which is expected to lift the order by October this year. Work on the project is slated to start this December for completion by April 2019.
An agreement on the project was earlier signed by Tugade and Public Works Sec. Mark Villar with LRT Authority administrator Reynaldo Berroya, SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) executive chairman Hans Sy, Light Rail Manila Corp. vice chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, San Miguel Corp. (SMC) president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang and North Triangle Depot Commercial Corp. (NTDCC) represented by Ayala Land Inc. vice chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.
In his message, Tugade also said the President wants to realize the modern railway from Manila to Clark. “We will break ground this December for the Tutuban (Manila) to Malolos segment of the railway, then it will continue towards San Fernando and Clark (Pampanga),” he said.
“But the icing of the cake is the Clark airport. We have finished with the pre-bidding conference (for a P15 billion world-class passenger terminal). It will be bidded out by the end of the year and by 2021, we will have a new modern, world class airport here in Clark,” he said.
Tugade stressed that “good things in this part of the country will reverberate throughout the country,” as he noted that similar projects have been lined up in the Visayas and Mindanao.
“Put your hands together and help us and make these plans come true. It is not only Pampanga and Clark. It will be the republic,” he added.
