Delays in land purchase plague MRT7 construction

Issues surrounding the land purchase for the Metro Rail Transit Line 7’s (MRT7) depot and terminal station have hindered the construction works of the mass rail transit system.

Norberto Conti, head of technical infrastructure at San Miguel Corporation, claimed that delays in issuing a writ of possession by Judge Felizardo Montero Jr. of the Malolos RTC Branch 11 resulted the price increase of the land, according to a report by Saleema Refran on Unang Balita.

Concessionaire SMC has written a letter of complaint to the DOTr regarding the matter Montero, the report said.

From P200 per square meter, which was the current and actual BIR Zonal Valuation of the land in 2010, the zonal value of the property has risen to P1,800 per sqm in 2018.

From more than P67 million, the land valuation has risen by around 800 percent to nearly P600 million, the report noted.

The depot requires 33 hectares of land.

Under the original project cost of P62.7 billion, an estimated P1.065 billion has been reserved for right-of-way purchases.

The DOTr noted that from a zonal valuation of P200 per sqm when the expropriation case was filed in court in December 2017, the valuation has risen to P1,800 per sqm as of February 2018.

“Ngayon po, ang nangyari sa San Jose del Monte pa lang po magbabayad na tayo ng P500 plus million,” said DOTr’s Assistant Secretary for Procurement Giovanni Lopez.

“That is 56 point something percent of the total right-of-way sa acquisition budget for the MRT7. Ano po ang epekto niyan sa mga Pilipino? Tayo po ang eventually, at the end of the day, will shoulder that,” Lopez noted.

SMC is urging the DOTr to file a petition for certiorari and form a new team that will include the Office of the Solicitor General.

The company also alleged that Montero committed grave abuse of authority when he sided with the landowner in the case.

Sought by GMA News, Montero refused to face the camera but declared that the land acquisition could be described as “oppressive” and said that the current land valuation must be used in deciding on the case.

GMA News also contacted landowner First Sovereign Asset Management Inc., but the company has yet to issue a statement.

According to an inquiry by the DOTr, the project cost was bloated by the delays in land acquisition.

“Na-delay po ito nang na-delay kaya ang nangyari lumobo nang lumobo ang gastusin dito,” Lopez said.

The depot will house the trains, head office, and operations system of MRT7. —VDS, GMA News