The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has deployed another tunnel boring machine into the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) to accelerate drilling activities from Camp Aguinaldo to Anonas.
The DOTr yesterday marked another milestone in its subway works, as it launched a new tunnel boring machine to excavate the segment between Camp Aguinaldo and Anonas.
Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said the deployment of the machine would pick up the pace further in putting up the country’s first underground rail.
The machine is able to create a tunnel of nine meters per day. With the machine starting to dig in Camp Aguinaldo this October, it is scheduled to reach Anonas in at least six months.
Lopez said another tunnel boring machine is being assembled right now, and it would be deployed in Camp Aguinaldo in two months. Two machines were already done burrowing more than 1,000 meters of tunnel between Camp Aguinaldo and Ortigas.
The MMSP is now being tunneled by eight machines through multiple segments to the north of its alignment, particularly in Valenzuela, Quezon City and Pasig.
‘Additional tunnel boring machines mean less time for us to finish this project, and we intend to keep this pace up in building the subway,’ Lopez said.
‘President Marcos has directed us to accelerate the completion of our projects because the key to addressing the plight of commuters is in mass transit,’ he said.
The MMSP, costing P488.5 billion and co-financed by Japan, was supposed to be operational by 2029. However, the project dealt with right-of-way (ROW) delays, compelling the DOTr to push back its completion to 2032.
Recently, the DOTr has won over the ROW for the MMSP in gated village Corinthian Gardens. It was able to secure an alignment of 500 meters, covering 33 properties, and the agency is ready to issue compensation totaling P820.56 million.
As a result, the DOTr can begin drilling works in Corinthian Gardens by January 2026, marking another win for the subway on the posh side of Pasig and Quezon City.
The MMSP, the country’s first underground rail, spans 33 kilometers across 17 stations between Valenzuela and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.