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Metro Global proposes P11.5-B mass transport, monorail system in Baguio


Metro Global Holdings Corporation (MGH) has proposed an P11.5-billion mass transport system including a 4-kilometer elevated monorail project in Baguio City, five months after the two parties agreed to look into developing an intelligent transport system.

According to the Baguio City Public Information Office, the proposed monorail will have eight strategic stations around the central business district to be powered by electricity, and some 300 battery-powered buses to service the transportation requirements of residents to the monorail stations and their workplace.

"The project will be fully funded by the company through the public-private partnership over a 50-year period of the franchise," MGH chairman Robert John Sobrepeña was quoted as saying in the statement made by the Baguio PIO on its official Facebook page.

To recall, MGH and Baguio City in September 2020 inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the development of an intelligent transport system that seeks to ease traffic congestion improve traffic management, minimize environmental impact, and increase benefits of transportation to the public in general.

MGH has an equity interest in Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Holdings Inc. and Metro Rail Transit Holdings II Inc., as well as an interest in Monumento Rail Transit Corporation. Trading of shares in the company has been suspended since February 2007 when it closed at P1.00 apiece.

In the same statement, the Baguio PIO said Mayor Benjamin Magalong urged MGH to look into the possibility of including clauses for the drivers of public utility vehicles who will be displaced by the project in the future, should it be approved.

If the consortium bags the original proponent status for the project, other interested companies will be given the right to match the offer under a Swiss Challenge.

Aside from the unsolicited proposal for its mass transport system, Baguio is also looking into proposals to rehabilitate its public market from SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH). The city has since secured a P4.3-billion loan for the market redevelopment. — BM, GMA News