DOTC eyes VMMC as site for bus hub

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is considering the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) as a possible location for the transportation hub to serve public utility vehicles coming from Northern Luzon.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said VMMC is also being considered as a possible site for the much needed Integrated Transport System – North Terminal.

“None yet, we are studying Veterans,” Abaya replied when asked if the government has identified the location of the ITS – North Terminal.

The VMMC is along North and Mindanao Avenues and is near the proposed P1.4-billion common station to be constructed in front of the Trinoma Mall of conglomerate Ayala Corp.

Abaya said other possible sites for the North ITS is the Manila Seedling Bank at the corner of EDSA and Quezon Avenue as well as the property of the National Housing Authority (NHA) near the Trinoma Mall.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board chaired by President Aquino has approved the P7.7-billion ITS projects to maximize road usage by reducing vehicle volume and eliminating provincial bus traffic to improve traffic flow along Metro Manila’s major thoroughfares particularly EDSA.

The DOTC has earlier given prospective bidders for the P4 billion ITS – South Terminal at the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) complex in Taguig City until Nov. 25 to submit their qualification documents.

The terminal would connect passengers from the Laguna and Batangas side to other urban transport systems such as the proposed North-South Commuter Rail of the Philippine National Railways, city buses, taxis, and other public utility vehicles that serve inner Metro Manila.

Companies that bought bid documents for the project are San Miguel Corp., Ayala Land Inc., Filinvest Group, Megawide Construction Corp., and Datem Construction.

Likewise, the agency has also given interested companies for the P2.5-billion ITS-Southwest Terminal project at the Coastal Road Terminal along the Manila-Cavite Expressway until Dec. 1 to submit their qualification documents.