The busway concourse project first signed 28 months ago should finally break ground within the year, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said on Wednesday.
Mark Steven Pastor, DOTr undersecretary for road transport and infrastructure, reiterated the commitment as the project plods on only on paper since government transport executives, the SM Group and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) first formalized the pact.
“Were behind schedule because of the design issues. Right now, we are working on the permits at the Department of Public Works and Highways,” he said.
The SM Group and the DOTr signed a memorandum of agreement for the construction of the busway concourses in November 2020 to be built at SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City and SM North EDSA in Quezon City.
SM has invested over P120 million for the project.
The EDSA Concourse Project is designed for safer and more convenient access to the EDSA busway stations for commuting Filipinos who can look forward to efficient ticketing booths, an automatic fare collection system, turnstiles and concierges that allow transport transactions to take place promptly and efficiently.
Upon completion, the concourses will serve some 300,000 daily commuters along EDSA.
The government launched the EDSA Busway in June 2020 at the height of the pandemic to provide seamless movement of high-capacity public utility buses.
The EDSA Busway, which uses a dedicated median lane for public utility buses, runs from Monumento in Caloocan City to SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City and prospectively reduces travel time between Monumento and Philippine Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) from 3.5 hours to less than an hour.
Besides SM, the government also partnered with DoubleDragon Properties Corp. and DM Wenceslao & Associates Inc. for the construction of Edsa Busway concourses in Roxas Boulevard and Macapagal Avenue.
