Despite previous delays, the Transportation Department assures there is now no stopping the Metro Manila Subway project.

In a statement, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said the Metro Manila Subway project has already recorded an overall project implementation progress rate of 40% as of January 2024, and is on track to be completed by 2029.

The DOTr recently led a site inspection with the Department of Finance (DOF) and Japan International Cooperation (JICA) to show the project’s progress.

“We have shown to Secretary Ralph Recto the ongoing development and briefing on what the project is all about, and with the support of JICA we are implementing this project on time for completion in 2029,” assured Bautista.

The DOF for its part, said it is working on securing the third tranche of financing for the project worth PHP55.7 billion by March 2024.

In a briefing, The DOTr added that the 33-kilometer subway system is only the beginning. It assured the public that there will be more subway lines to resolve the country’s horrendous traffic problem in the medium term. “We will have new subway lines in the future,” said Bautista. Right now we are working with JICA for a 30-year masterplan for railways,” he added.

In an interview with One News PH, Transportation Undersecretary Timothy Batan said, they are aiming for partial operations of the subway in three years’ time, at the earliest. “We are looking at the possibility of partial operations by 2027 or 2028, depending on whether the the partial operations segment will be useful for our commuters,” he said.

He added that they are also working with JICA to find solutions to persisting right-of-way issues that had previously delayed the project’s launch by a year.

The Metro Manila Subway Project is a 33-kilometer railway line consisting of 17 stations, that will connect Valenzuela City to Pasay City, with a separate connection to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3. It is expected to cut travel time from Valenzuela to NAIA from 1 hour and 30 minutes to only 35 minutes, and service over 500,000 passengers daily.