In 2018, then Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade proudly proclaimed that the Unified Grand Central Station (UGCS), which would link four Metro railway lines, would be finished by 2022.
To this day, however, the completion of the Common Station, supposed to be built at the junction of EDSA and North Avenue in Quezon City, remains a pipe dream.
The pandemic — along with other technical and right-of-way problems — proved to be a major hump to hurdle for the government and private entities involved in the project. Tugade and his lieutenants had concocted solutions to finish the common station. Ayala Corporation, for one, was tapped to build the project’s Area B beside Trinoma Mall, in the hope that this would facilitate completion by 2020, while the entire Common Station is expected to be operational by 2022.
Splitting the UGCS into three was done following years of delays due to legal disputes over where the common station was supposed to be built. Its capacity has also been raised from the initial 500,000 to 1.2 million daily, while the station’s common concourse went up to 13,700 square meters (sqm) from 7,000, to be able to accommodate the facilities of the subway project.
The enormous technical and right-of-way challenges in constructing the Common Station, inherited by Jaime Bautista when he took over from Tugade in 2022, will now be passed on to newly installed DOTr Secretary Vince Dizon, following his predecessors resignation due to health reasons. Would Dizon be able to make a difference? It’ll be interesting to see how he navigates the complex problems that have been hounding the long-delayed UGCS project.
According to some of my readers who broached this topic to us, the problem lies in the personnel tasked to handle the project. It’s all over the news that Dizon had asked all DOTr undersecretaries to vacate their post. Would putting fresh people to finish the project do the trick? It was reported that only Timothy John Batan would be assigned to the railway sector. Our readers, however, are urging Dizon to do a complete overhaul.
Grand station in a nutshell
- In 2011, the government hatched an ambitious plan for the Common Station that will integrate LRT-1, MRT-3, and MRT-7 to provide seamless connectivity to alleviate traffic and reduce commuters’ travel time. Unfortunately, 13 years later, it remains unfinished and in a state of suspended animation – marred by corruption, gross negligence, design defects, safety issues and budget controversies.
- The project was divided into 3 Areas: A, B, and C. The DOTr was set to develop Area A with a platform and concourses for LRT-1 and MRT-3 North Avenue Station (near SM North and Trinoma). The DOTr, with Batan as head of the railways sector then, conducted a public bidding for Area A and awarded the project to BF Corporation and Foresight Development Surveying Company on February 13, 2019, with the contract price of P2.783 billion and a completion date of January 4, 2021 (600 days construction term).
- According to rail experts, BF Corporation lacks the capability and experience in railway construction and electromechanical works which should have been a cause for its disqualification as a bidding process participant. BF’s tender price was also abnormally low considering the Common Station Project included a comprehensive railway system works and signaling system. The unreasonably low tender price is simply not sufficient to cover the scope of works, raising concerns about BF’s ability to successfully and compliantly fulfill the Common Station contract.
- The most glaring among the issues raised concerning BF was that it insisted on a viaduct structure made from all-steel material. This is a worrying deviation from the recommended and industrial standard design which should be combination of concrete and steel. Some see this as BF prioritizing its main line of business, which is steel fabrication over the safety of commuters. Also, experts have already warned that changing the viaduct design to an all-steel column poses risk of instability and even collapse of the railway station.
Just with this UGCS project, Transport Secretary Dizon would have a lot on his plate. We’re watching. – Rappler.com
Val A. Villanueva is a veteran business journalist. He was a former business editor of the Philippine Star and the Gokongwei-owned Manila Times. For comments, suggestions email him at mvala.v@gmail.com.