DOTr, private partners agree to build LRT-MRT station starting Dec.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and its partners in the private sector agreed to start building the common station for the mass rail transit system in December.

The 13,700-square meter station is now estimated to cost P2.8 billion, the department said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The Department of Transportation and concerned parties today signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on the long-delayed railway project," the statement read.

"This thing could have not been possible without the cooperation, trust and confidence of the private sector," Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said during the MOA signing ceremony in Makati City.

The MOA was signed by the DOTr, SM Prime Holdings Inc., Universal LRT Corporation (BVI) Limited of the San Miguel Corporation (SMC), Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC), North Triangle Depot Commercial Corporation (NTDCC), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA).

"It contains the design parameters for the common station, which will be the basis of the detailed designs that will be developed after the signing," according to the DOTr.

The agreement is the result of discussions made after a term sheet was signed on September 28, 2016, in which the parties involved identified the most sutiable location for the LRT-1, MRT-3 and the proposed MRT Line 7 to have a common station – somewhere between the SM North Edsa and the Trinoma Mall.

The project is divided into three main components, divided among the various participants involved in the construction, operation and maintenance of the station.

"Lahat ng mga parties mayroong kanya-kanyang contribution doon sa unified station. Una, 'yung DOTr ang magtatayo nung bahagi ng common station kung saan dadaan ang Line 1 at 3," Timothy John Batan, DOTr senior project development officer, said on the sidelines of the MOA signing.

"Ang grupo naman ng Ayala ang magtatayo ng tinatawag natin na common concourse na siyang magdudugtong sa Line 1, 3 at 7. At ang San Miguel ang siyang magtatayo nung lugar para sa Line 7," Batan noted.

"Ang SM ang nagbigay ng P200 million, kung inyong maalala upang pondohan ang ating common station, at ang LRMC naman ang siyang magme-maintain ng ating Line 1 na dadaan rin sa common station," Batan said.

Area A of the common station is where the platform and concourse for LRT-1 and MRT-3 are located. "Area B, 'yan 'yung common concourse na magdudugtong sa Line 3 at 7. At Area C kung saan dadaan ang Line 7," he added.

The target is to complete the project in April 2019.

With a deal between the LRTA and SM Prime Holdings to build a common station for the mass rail transit system near SM North EDSA, the project began to take shape in 2009.

But the then-Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) under the Aquino administration decided to build the station near Trinoma, citing a study that the government could supposedly save P800 million to P1 billion if the project is relocated closer to the Ayala-controlled mall.

SM Prime Holdings sued the DOTC and LRTA for breaching the 2009 agreement.

In 2014, the SC issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) in favor of SM Prime Holdings stopping the construction of the common station.

In May, the SC extended the TRO to cover the relocation of the common station.

During the briefing on Wednesday, DOTr Assistant Secretary Leah Quiambao said the parties involved will ask the court to lift the TRO after the detailed designs are completed by the fourth quarter of 2016.

"'Yung lifting ng TRO will come afterwards pa po. But, in the meantime, lahat po ay pwede na mag-finalize ng mga engineering designs. Ang goal po nito ma-lift ang TRO at ma-start ang construction ng common station," Quiambao said, noting the construction will only begin once the TRO is lifted. — Ted Cordero/VS, GMA News