Tutuban Properties to craft masterplan for North-South Railway PPP

The operator of Tutuban Center in Divisoria, Manila has agreed to house the transfer station of the P170.7-billion North-South Railway Project (NSFP), a major public-private partnership (PPP) undertaking of the Aquino administration.

 

Tutuban Properties Inc., a subsidiary of listed Prime Orion Philippines Inc., signed a memorandum of understanding with the Philippine National Railways (PNR) and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to finalize and complete the NSRP masterplan in six months, Prime Orion said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Wednesday, 

 

The transfer station will be located at Tutuban Center.

 

Tutuban Properties is the developer and operator of the Tutuban Center.

 

Chaired by President Benigno Aquino III, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board approved the North-South Railway masterplan last February.

 

The project covers the construction of North Line (Phase 1), a 37-kilometer elevated commuter railway from Malolos, Bulacan to Divisoria. Phase 2 involves the South Line, a 653-kilometer railway from Tutuban to Legazpi City in Albay.

 

According to Prime Orion, the transfer station will cater to the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) or the west extension to the Port Area in Manila. LRT-2 will have one of its major stations in front of the Tutuban Center. 

 

"The LRT Line 2 Station will then interconnect with the NSRP Transfer Station and Tutuban Center, Prime Orion noted. "This will facilitate the transfer of passengers from the NSRP to the LRT Line 2 and vice versa," the company said.

 

The LRT Line 2 west extension is  still being processed by the NEDA board.

 

LRT-2 currently links C.M. Recto in Manila to Santolan.

 

Initial studies on the NSRP showed the interconnection will bring an estimated 400,000 per day of additional foot traffic to Tutuban Center. – Danessa O. Rivera/VS, GMA News