Tugade: LRT-MRT common station to be built between SM North, Trinoma

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade on Wednesday revealed the new administration's "common sense" solution to the dispute over the location of the common station for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) in Quezon City.

Tugade said that instead of deciding on which mall, SM North and Trinoma, to connect the common station, they have decided to build it right between SM North and Trinoma.

In a Senate hearing by the committee on public service, Tugade said the contract for the common station interconnecting the LRT and MRT would be signed within the month.

Upon questioning by Sen. Ralph Recto on where the common station would be built, Tugade said: "In between... para wala nang maglalakad na [pasahero]."

"Ang importante lang na kung sana iyong nakaraan, ang stakeholders nakakasuhan at nag-aaway. [Ngayon] nagkasundo na sila na sa lugar na iyon ilalagay ang common station," he added.

Transportation Undersecretary for Rails and Toll Roads Noel Kintanar stressed that the convenience of commuters was their primary consideration in deciding where to construct the common station.

"Diyan ako hanga kay Sec. Tugade. Karamihan naman kasi common sense solution," Recto remarked during the hearing.

Kintanar agreed but wished that "sana walang mangyaring intervening item."

In June 2014, SM Prime sued the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) and the LRT Authority for violating a 2009 agreement to build the common station of MRT Lines 3 and 7 (MRT-3, 7) and LRT Line 1 (LRT-1) in front of SM North EDSA. But a lower court eventually junked the plea of SM Prime.

The government bundled the LRT-MRT common station in the P65-billion LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension Project – the biggest public-private partnership initiative of the Aquino administration.

According to the previous DOTC management, the common station was relocated after a study showed that the government can save P800 million to P1 billion if the station is built close to Trinoma, an adjacent mall owned by competitor Ayala Land Inc.

The DOTC had said that the agreement with SM Prime expired in 2011 but the Sy-led developer claimed there was no expiry date provided in the documents.

The P1.4-billion project will link LRT-1, MRT-3, and the proposed MRT-7 – from the North Avenue station to San Jose del Monte in Bulacan, via Commonwealth Avenue. —ALG, GMA News