CITY OF SAN JOSE DEL MONTE, Bulacan (PIA)- The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the City Government of San Jose Del Monte are agreed on relocating the site of the San Jose Del Monte Station of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 7 Project.
During the project briefing to the Regional Project Monitoring Committee (RPMC) led by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA)-Region III, Engr. Suncris Cadiz, project manager of the DOTr to the MRT-7 project, the San Jose Del Monte Station will remain constructed along Quirino Highway in the city.
Instead of putting it up right after the intersection of Muzon-Tungkong Mangga Road and Quirino Highway, the new location will be near the boundary of San Jose Del Monte and North Caloocan.
The San Jose Del Monte Station in Bulacan is one of the 14 stations along the 28.8 kilometer route of the MRT-7 up to the soon-to-open LRT-MRT Unified Grand Central Terminal in EDSA-North Avenue, Quezon City.
After the San Jose Del Monte Station, the nearby Tala Station in North Caloocan is about to construct, while 12 other stations are already erected and targeted for partial operation by the end of 2025 or early 2026.
Cadiz also pointed out that as the location of San Jose Del Monte Station is now finalized, construction of an Intermodal Transportation Terminal (ITT) shall be follow. It will be built beside the train station and can accommodate 60 buses in a given time.
Perhaps, from the said railway station and its nearby ITT, a six lane road access is also in the pipeline to connect MRT-7 to Bocaue and Balagtas interchanges ng North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).
Records obtained from the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center, stated the proposed extension of MRT-7 to the municipalities of Norzagaray, Santa Maria, Balagtas and eventually up to the New Manila International Airport (NMIA) in Bulakan town.
The P77 billion MRT-7 was constructed through the Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) modality, one of the scheme of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP), where San Miguel Corporation (SMC) became the concessionaire of the project. This modality allowed the qualified private sector to invest in the design, construction and operation of a particular infrastructure project. After the period of concession, the said private sector operator will transfer the entire possession of the facilities to the government.
MRT-7 project was approved by the NEDA Board in 2008 under Arroyo administration. Actual construction started in the later part of 2016.
