A Quezon City official has sought the deferment of permits for the construction of the Metro Manila Subway, citing inadequate public consultations on the largest project under President Rodrigo Duterte’s P8-trillion Build, Build, Build program.
Quezon City Councilor Victor Ferrer Jr. said public consultations at the barangay level are inadequate as there should be an active and extensive participation of the city council.
“The public hearing for the subway project should have been at the city hall where the councilors and other key officials could have participated lengthily,’ Ferrer was quoted in Manila Bulletin report as saying.
He said that until the city council has conducted extensive public consultations and passed a resolution expressing that it has no objection to the project, the permits for the project should not be issued.
He also said the public consultations should include the effects of the subway construction to the residents in affected barangays, flooding and erosion, employment of residents, safety, noise reduction and traffic control.
The 30-kilometer underground railway will connect Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City by 2025.
In Quezon City, the subway will be constructed along Quirino Highway, Tandang Sora, North Avenue, Quezon Avenue, East Avenue, Anonas, and Katipunan Avenue.
Ferrer questioned why the subway will run through the west side of Quezon City, which is not prone to traffic congestion. He said the underground railway should be constructed in areas like EDSA where “there is a much greater traffic-build-up which is not the case in the current west side route.’’
The subway was constructed along the west side of Quezon City as more underground utility lines would be affected if the underground railway would run through EDSA. But Ferrer said this could be avoided if engineering boring methods are done 100 feet or even 100 meters deep.
