Quezon City Memorial Circle
20 April 2016

President Benigno S. Aquino III led the groundbreaking for the Metro Rail Transit 7 (MRT-7) project at the Children’s Garden of the Quezon Memorial Circle.

He was joined in the time-capsule laying ceremony by Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, Hyundai Rotem Company president and CEO Seung-Tack Kim and EEI Corporation president CEO Roberto Jose Castillo.

“Kapag natapos po ang proyektong ito, 350,000 pasahero kada araw ang tiyak na mapapaginhawa ang biyahe. Kung magpapatuloy ang pag-uupgrade ng sistema, maaaring umabot sa 800,000 pasahero kada araw ang kayang isakay ng ating mga tren. Ang biyahe mula San Jose del Monte hanggang sa Makati, na umaabot ngayon sa tatlo’t kalahating oras, magiging isang oras na lang,” said President Aquino.

MRT-7 is a 22-kilometer elevated railway from North Avenue, Quezon City to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan and is set to be completed in three years.

The P69.3-billion project also has a 22-kilometer six-lane highway that will start at the Balagtas Interchange of NLEX and end in an intermodal transport terminal (ITT) in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. This will provide provincial buses with an alternate route to San Jose and will help decongest EDSA.

The project is to be implemented by the newly formed SMC MRT-7, Inc. that is under SMC’s infrastructure subsidiary, San Miguel Holdings Inc. SMC will be involved in the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of the project.

SMC has tapped the Hyundai Rotem-EEI consortium to build the railway line composed of the 14 stations, namely: Quezon North Avenue Joint Station; Quezon Memorial Circle; University Avenue; Tandang Sora; Don Antonio; Batasan; Manggahan; Doña Carmen; Regalado; Mindanao Avenue; Quirino; Sacred Heart; Tala; and San Jose del Monte.

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