Makati Subway 'no longer feasible' due to SC ruling, says developer

Philippine Infradev Holdings Inc. is finally tossing the shovel for the multi-billion dollar Makati Subway System as the underground intra-city railway project was rendered unviable by the Supreme Court ruling transferring several areas of Makati City to Taguig City.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, Infradev said that its Board of Directors “has resolved that continuing with the Makati City Subway Project under the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with the Makati City Government was rendered no longer economically and operationally feasible due primarily to the Philippine Supreme Court's decision declaring some subway stations and depot to be under the jurisdiction of Taguig City instead of the Makati City.”

With this, the company announced that “arbitration proceedings have thus been commenced with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre to enable an impartial resolution of the JVA with the Makati City.”

In October 2018, the city government of Makati awarded the public-private partnership project to the consortium of Infradev (formerly IRC Properties), to be implemented via a JVA.

In December 2018, Infradev broke ground for the Makati Subway project.

Infradev and its Chinese partners Greenland Holdings Group, Jiangsu Provincial Construction Group Co. Ltd. Holdings Ltd., and China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. were awarded the public-private partnership deal to undertake the Makati City Subway project by the Makati City government in 2019.

The $3.5-billion Makati Subway System project was originally planned to have 10 underground stations located at key destinations such as Ayala Triangle, Makati City Hall, and University of Makati.

As early as September 2023, Infradev has raised the alarm that the project could be derailed by the High Court’s ruling favoring Taguig.

It had said that “the depot and a few stations of the Makati City subway system will be in the affected areas.”

In particular, the subway project has a planned depot in Barangay Cembo, a planned station in University of Makati in West Rembo, and another one in Ospital ng Makati in Pembo.

There were also plans to integrate the Makati subway with the MRT3, the Pasig River Ferry System, and the proposed Metro Manila Mega Subway.

The project was expected to be completed in 2025.

In 2021, however, the SC declared that the Fort Bonifacio Military Reservation, consisting of parcels 3 and 4, psu-2031, and the 10 affected barangays are part of the territory of Taguig City.

The 10 barangays are Pembo, Comembo, Cembo, South Cembo, West Rembo, East Rembo, Pitogo, Rizal, Northside, and Southside.

In June 2023, the SC rejected the Makati City government's motion asking the High Court to allow it to file a second motion for reconsideration over its territorial dispute with Taguig City.

The Makati Subway project was aimed to ease traffic congestion in Makati by providing an alternative transport service for up to 700,000 commuters, and to reduce by 270,000 the number of vehicles plying the city. —AOL, GMA Integrated News