SM files petition to stop common station transfer to Trinoma

Facade of SM City North Edsa / Wikipedia Photo

MANILA — SM Prime, one of the country’s largest mall developers, filed a petition to stop the government from awarding and transferring the proposed common station that links Metro Rail Transit Line 3 and Light Rail Transit Line 1 near Ayala Land’s Trinoma mall.

The common station will be serving as an interconnection platform for all LRT 1 trains which travel from Baclaran to Monumento.

Also included in the platform are the MRT 3 servicing the stretch of EDSA and the proposed MRT 7 envisioned to run from Caloocan and to parts of Quezon City such as Lagro, Fairview, Novaliches and Batasan.

“The proposed Common Station in front of SM North EDSA was duly approved by the NEDA-ICC as a priority infrastructure project in 2007. It was formally confirmed by the NEDA Board and the Cabinet on July 7, 2009,” the company said in its 12-page petition.

Filed before the Pasay regional trial court, the petition also indicated SM Prime’s appeal to have the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) comply with its earlier agreement.

In 2009, DOTC and LRTA has chosen SM North EDSA as the site of the proposed common station.

SM Prime holds security in the agreement after it paid P200 million to the Light Transit Authority for naming rights for the proposed station.

However, in a decision made last year, DOTC transferred proposed the common train station site to the area near Trinoma mall, citing savings for the government of P1 billion.

DOTC, in consolation, added that the station can still keep its name of “SM Station” despite the planned transfer to Ayala-owned Trinoma mall.

Despite this, SM Prime still failed to agree saying that DOTC, upon the transfer has disregarded its existing memorandum of agreement with them.

With reports from Liza Reyes