October 23, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — State-run insurer Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is repurposing its three-hectare lot in Elliptical Road in Quezon City for a new transport hub that would match up to the size of the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX).
GSIS is allocating one of its properties in Quezon City to become the location for what could be the biggest transport terminal to the north of Metro Manila.
As approved, the GSIS lot at the corner of Elliptical Road and Commonwealth Avenue will serve as the location for Project HUB, the working name for the project co-headed by the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), local government of Quezon City and GSIS.
Project HUB is designed to rival the size of PITX in Parañaque, hoping to bring to the north the same concept from the south. Once the terminal is completed, it is expected to house multiple units of public transport plying different routes around the district.
If things go as scheduled, Project HUB should be opened to the public in 2027. The terminal will work as an intermodal complement to the Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7) being built by San Miguel Corp. (SMC).
The project is situated close to two stations of the MRT-7, namely, Quezon Memorial Circle and University Avenue, both of which are slated for opening in 2025.
The MRT-7, as a whole, will run for about 22 kilometers between Quezon City and San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, but SMC is committed to partially operating the line next year.
In their completion, Project HUB and MRT-7 together can help decongest the traffic situation in Commonwealth Avenue, the busiest road in Metro Manila where roughly 408,000 motorists pass through every day.
By task, the DOTr will coordinate with the World Bank to undertake the planning, financing and construction of the project. The MMDA will come up with a feasibility study, covering both the engineering design and traffic management.
The local government of Quezon City, led by Mayor Joy Belmonte, will expedite the processing and release of requirements needed to build the terminal.
GSIS will facilitate the paperworks for the use of its property, ensuring that the lot is ready for civil works.
For the meantime, the GSIS, MMDA and the local government of Quezon City will redesign the land as a parking space, as they wait for the DOTr to complete preparatory works.
The plan among the three agencies is to install more than 300 parking slots on the site for public use, but would be removed as soon as permanent works for Project HUB are ready.
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