Build, Build, Build projects on track for 2020, 2021 completion

MANILA: Despite the close to three-month layoff due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several infrastructure projects under the government’s “Build, Build, Build” program are set to finish this year and the next.

According to Presidential Adviser for Flagship Programs and Projects Vivencio Dizon, the administration is also not shying away from big-ticket legacy projects and have several lined up already including the North-South Commuter Rail connecting Clark and Calamba, as well as the Metro Manila Subway.

Set to finish this year are the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 which is now 76% complete and is expected to be delivered by December; and the Harbor Link connecting North Luzon Expressway to North Harbor is estimated to be completed by the end of the year; the 93%-complete Clark International Airport which is set to open by July; the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) East Extension by year end; and the Bonifacio Global City - Ortigas Center Link Road, which is 45% complete and will be delivered by December 2020 or early 2021.

“The ‘Build, Build, Build’, or (the) unprecedented infrastructure program under the Duterte administration, is one of the key interventions that the government must do and must do swiftly in order to help us get out (of) the mess that has been brought about by COVID-19,” said Dizon.

Next year, the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge and Binondo-Intramuros Bridge are on track to be completed by February.

 “By 2021, we are also going to complete two bridges across the Pasig. So there will be a total of three new bridges across the Pasig. This is the most number of bridges we did within one administration across the Pasig River and we are even envisioning to start five more bridges through an ODA (official development assistance) from China,” added Dizon.

Rail projects that will continue are the LRT-1 Cavite Extension and Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7), which will be partially operational by 2021; the MRT-3 Rehabilitation Program to be completed by July 2021; and the Philippine National Railways (PNR) Phase 1 connecting Tutuban, Manila to Malolos, Bulacan, which is targeted to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2021.

Photos from DOTr

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