Almost a million passengers a day for MRT-7

The proposed Mass Rail Transit-Line 7 (MRT-7) by a private consortium would significantly ease traffic in Metro Manila given its maximum capacity of almost a million passengers per day.

Eli Levin, a founding member and initiator of Universal LRT Corp. Ltd., said MRT-7 is designed to move 300,000 passengers for the initial phase and eventually take in around 850,000.

Universal LRT Corp. Ltd. was formed in January 2001 to develop MRT-7, Manila’s largest multi-purpose transportation project.

"We face the problem of traffic each day. The existing mass transits, Line 1 covering 15 kilometers; Line 2 covering 13.8 kilometers; and Line 3, covering 16.8 kilometers, are moving only a total of 800,000 passengers per day," Levin said in a recent forum in Makati City.

He cited the metropolis’ inadequate roads as one of the problems contributing to the city’s congested travel routes.

"It will also be impossible to expand these existing roads because of expensive right-of-ways," Levin said. "To date, we have 4,800 kilometers of road, but most are developed into subdivision areas."

He warned that by year 2010, which is their target year for the line transit to become operational, Metro Manila’s present population of more than 10 million including that of Cavite, Laguna and Batangas, will double.

"With rapid population and the corresponding increase of vehicles, EDSA will become one huge parking lot by year 2015," Levin said.

The MRT-7 project is a 23-kilometer rail system starting from North Avenue-EDSA and will run underground upon reaching the Quezon Memorial Circle area then shift to an elevated portion in Commonwealth Avenue going to Fairview, Quirino Highway, all the way to San Jose del Monte in Bulacan.

Levin said construction of the project will commence in the second quarter of 2007 and actual operation will begin by the fourth quarter of 2010.

Project cost has been placed at $1.23 billion.