MRT-7, when approved by government, should be constructed by next year and operational by 2009, and thereby relieve Metropolitan Manila’s perennial traffic problem. But that’s not the only feature of the first massive project. It’s also a real estate development and an employment generator.
But the most attractive thing about the MRT-7 rail line that starts from SM City to the corner of North Avenue and EDSA, running through Commonwealth Avenue up to Quirino Avenue and terminating at the City of San Jose del Monte in Bulacan, is not only that it’s the first "intermodal mode of transportation in Asia," but that as an investment, it will not have any government guarantee.
On the other hand, what’s guaranteed is government revenues amounting to about
R30 billion in 10 years, or R3 billion a year. For a government that’s in no position to guarantee anything these days, from peace and order to the elimination of corruption, this is not such a bad deal.
After several years of planning, the proponent of the project, Universal LRT Corporation (ULC), was able to meet the 27 conditions set by government.
That’s the first good news for this year and the coming years, a real construction job compared to the deconstruction jobs, to put it politely, going on.
As a major paper has it, "Garci" has talked and talked and said nothing. Then, as if on cue, cars have been bombed in selected places in Metro Manila, among them the car of the son of an administration congressman, and the building of the First Gentlemen "strafed" by six or so bullets.
Fortunately, no one was hurt, probably intentionally, for the "terrorists" or such have declared war on inanimate objects. To some people with an elephant’s memory, the bombings recalled the destruction of then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile’s car before the declaration of Martial Law on September 21, 1972 (announced on September 23).
We have to take the bad with the good. The parade of champion athletes and the projected rail line system with its attendant benefits should dispel some of the dark gloom of the season.
