The Department of Transportation on Thursday awarded the 13.1-kilometer Metro Rail Transit – Line 4 monorail consultancy contract to Australia’s Ricardo Rail Australia Pty Ltd. The P58.9-billion project is funded by the Asian Development Bank.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the 10-station elevated monorail line now under critical Australian assessment is designed to ease traffic congestion and encourage car users eventually to take to public transportation instead.
“Once operational, the more than 400,000 passengers expected to ride the MRT-4 will be more than grateful for solving the perennial traffic problem along the stretch of Ortigas Avenue.”
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista
According to him, the experience and expertise of the shadow operator consultant that had been awarded the project will help elevate MRT-4 operations to international standards.
“The key words in the arrangement are ‘internationally accepted best practices’ in railway engineering,” Bautista said of one of the endeavors under the government’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) program.
Having a key role in the eventual operations and maintenance of MRT-4, the consultants Ricardo Rail Australia Pty Ltd. have a 12-month contract to prepare for hand over to the operations and maintenance (O&M) concessionaire the development of the project and ensure the designs of the engineering and architectural consultant are followed.
According to Bautista, the consultancy contract was on January 31 this year to identify, define, and develop in step with internationally accepted best practice the operational and maintenance requirements of the project.
MRT-4 will serve the eastern side of Metro Manila, including the highly-populated areas of the province of Rizal.
The 10-station, elevated metro rail line will traverse along Ortigas Avenue and Ortigas Avenue Extension, starting from EDSA Station near Robinsons Galleria in Quezon City ending at the Taytay Station near the Taytay Public Market and the intersection of Taytay Diversion Road and Manila East Road.
