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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
SM Prime Holdings Inc. on Friday confirmed a Manila Times report
that the mall developer is in talks with the government to finance
an additional station of a rail system from Caloocan City to North
Avenue in Quezon City.
In a disclosure to the Philippine
Stock Exchange, Jeffrey C. Lim, SM Prime executive vice-president,
said the company is in discussions with state-run Light Rail Transit
Authority (LRTA) for the construction of an additional station for
the Light Rail Transit Line 1 North Extension project.
“The company will make an
appropriate disclosure to the Exchange as soon as an agreement is
finalized and signed,” Lim said, without providing additional
details.
SM Prime operates 28 malls across
the country.
Earlier, Federico J. Canar, LRTA
project manager said the SM group offered to fund the additional
station to be constructed between the proposed Roosevelt and North
Avenue stations adjacent to the company’s property with an
estimated value of P100 million.
“The work on this additional
station would be totally independent of our construction work.
LRTA and Shoe Mart are going to enter into a MOA [memorandum of
agreement] for this additional construction work,” Canar said.
Costing about P5.98 billion, the
project involves the construction and detailed design of a
5.71-kilometer elevated line from Monumento station of LRT Line 1 to
North Avenue of Metro Rail Transit 3, two new intermediate stations
(Balin-tawak and Roosevelt) and a terminal station (Line 1 North
Avenue station).
The Balintawak station will
provide modal interchange with bus and jeepney services entering
Metro Manila from the north via the North Luzon Expressway.
Of the total cost, civil and
architectural works would amount to P3.3 billion; electromechanical
works, P1.9 billion; consultancy services, P317.4 million; and
contingency, P318 million.
The project will be implemented
for a period of two years, with construction to begin in 2008 and
completion by April 2010.
The LRT North Project is expected
to serve around 800,000 to 1 million passengers once it is fully
operational.
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