By Jerry Botial Updated January 18, 2009 12:00 AM [ philstar.com ]
Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri said the city government may derail the P6.3-billion Light Rail Transit-Metro Rail Transit (LRT-MRT) loop project if the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) refuses to build an additional station in the city.
The original plan of the 5.8-kilometer LRT-MRT Loop project involves only three stations, one beside the end of the MRT-3 North Avenue, another in Balintawak, and one in Muñoz market, all in Quezon City.
The loop will connect LRT Line 1, running from Baclaran to Monumento in Caloocan City, with the MRT Line 3, which runs from Pasay City to North Avenue in Quezon City.
What Caloocan City wants, according to Echiverri, is another station along EDSA in Bagong Barrio.
“Caloocan is not leaving any stone unturned to have this one light railway station,” he said, adding that the station was necessary to meet the demands and needs of the city residents.
Echiverri said the city government may be constrained to make the LRTA reconsider its position by not issuing the necessary permits and licenses for the construction of the railway segment from the LRT station in Monumento to the MRT North Avenue terminal in Quezon City.
Yesterday, The STAR gathered that the city council has approved a resolution “opposing, objecting to and disapproving this LRT-MRT project in the event [that] the additional Gen. Malvar street-Bagong Barrio LRT station be declined or excluded.”
In Resolution 1857, the city council further authorizes Echiverri “to turn down, hold, deny, suspend issuance, grant, release of any and all permits, licenses and such other requirements, documents and papers which are incidental, required and necessary in the pursuance of this...project within the confines of the city.”
The LRTA, early on, said it will not build an extra station between Monumento and Balintawak because their study indicates that the expected traffic in the area would not generate enough revenue to justify the station’s construction.
City hall sources said Echiverri made an appeal to the Office of the President last week to consider constructing the extra station in Bagong Barrio at the corner of EDSA and Gen. Malvar street.
The sources said President Arroyo has assured Echiverri that Caloocan will have its extra station.
City engineer Rolando Eduria, in an interview, said while the distance between Balintawak and North Avenue is almost equal to that between Monumento and Balintawak, the former will be having three stations against nothing for the Caloocan stretch.
He said the extra station in Caloocan will benefit commuters not only from Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela (Camanava) but also from areas north of Luzon.
The local government said it expects economic growth along EDSA-Bagong Barrio, a priority development area for national government projects and zonal programs, once the LRT-MRT loop becomes operational.
