Advancing the Philippines’ Largest Public Infrastructure Project

The sixth and final tunnel boring machine (TBM) for the Metro Manila Subway Project Contract Package CP101 was recently launched from Tandang Sora Station. The package is being performed by a joint venture comprising Shimizu Corporation, Fujita Corporation, Takenaka Civil Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd., and leading Philippine contractor EEI Corporation. Four of the six TBMs have already completed excavation. The fifth machine was launched on September 7, and the sixth machine is scheduled to reach the Quirino Highway Station by the end of 2027. Upon their arrival, the shield tunnels linking the three stations and the depot within CP101 will be completed.

Designed as a decisive response to Metro Manila’s chronic traffic congestion, the Metro Manila Subway is one of the Philippines’ largest public infrastructure projects. Financed by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the project’s total cost exceeds ¥800 billion. Construction began in February 2019. Under a Japan-led framework, the project is developing a 33.1-kilometer underground railway connecting Mindanao Avenue in northern Metro Manila with Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the south, together with 17 stations, a depot and related facilities.

CP101: The Metro Manila Subway’s Largest Contract Package

CP101, the project’s largest contract package, is being constructed by the Shimizu-led joint venture. It comprises four stations—East Valenzuela, Quirino Highway, Tandang Sora and North Avenue—six shield tunnels with a finished internal diameter of 6.1 meters and a combined tunneling length of approximately 9.5 kilometers, and a depot containing 45 buildings of various sizes, including maintenance and training facilities. Overall progress currently stands at 62%. Station construction is 62% complete, shield tunneling 71% complete and building construction 27% complete. The contract is valued at approximately ¥245 billion, the largest-ever contract awarded for a single urban railway package financed through a Japanese yen loan. Completion of CP101 is scheduled for the end of 2030.

Engineering Expertise Cuts Ten Months from Original Schedule

When the contract was awarded, the joint venture signed an umbrella agreement with the Philippine Department of Transportation (DOTr) in February 2019, focused on engineering consultancy and constructability reviews under an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) arrangement. The joint venture was first tasked with reviewing the original design and proposing ways to accelerate construction. Its recommendations—including replacing the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) with shield tunneling, simplifying station layouts and reducing the number of underground station levels—shortened the original schedule by ten months. The joint venture has continued to deliver wide-ranging proposals covering schedule, quality and safety. These include determination of priorities by areas to execute land acquisition to enable early commencement of construction, revising construction plans in response to project progress, introducing interim specifications for systems such as tunnel ventilation, and deploying Japanese riggers, formwork carpenters and plasterers as instructors to establish Japanese-style quality and safety management practices. Through these measures, the joint venture is pursuing high-quality infrastructure delivery while maintaining the project’s momentum.

A Multinational Team, Rooted in the Local Economy

The Shimizu-led joint venture for CP101 is supported by a multinational team of approximately 1,300 staff members, which consist of not only Filipinos and Japanese but more countries from Australia, Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom and more. To meet its contractual technology-transfer obligations, the joint venture is expanding the number of staff sent to Japan for construction management training, to help developing engineers’ capability to work independently in the Philippines in the future. Local employment is another priority. Most of approximately 7,000 workers currently working at the site is locally employed Filipino, thereby directly empowering the local economy.

The Metro Manila Subway is a long-awaited national project that took half a century to move forward the proposals into construction. Dubbed the “Project of the Century,” it has drawn intense attention in the Philippines, where expectations are high that it will help ease the capital region’s persistent traffic gridlock. The joint venture will continue to raise productivity and work toward completing CP101 as soon as possible.