The Makati City subway project is now officially canceled, after being described as ‘no longer feasible’ by Philippine InfraDev Holdings, the project’s main contractor. Since its inception back in 2018, the subway project has remained in relative limbo due to territorial disputes between Makati and Taguig.
The 10 ‘EMBO’ barangays that used to be part of Makati were turned over to the city of Taguig, due to a decision by the Supreme Court back in 2023. These areas were crucial to the subway project as some stations, train depots, and tunnels would have been situated in and around them.
Even before the ruling was made, the Makati City LGU and PIHI had already begun making preparations for the subway. This included purchasing privately owned land and acquiring more investments in the project. Initial plans had it to be operational by 2025, with an overall cost of around P200 billion.
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After announcing the project’s shelving, PIHI mentioned that it will be dissolving its joint venture agreement with the city of Makati through the Singapore Arbitration Centre. At the time of writing, the Makati City LGU has yet to make any statement regarding the cancellation of the project and the arbitration proceedings.
The larger Metro Manila subway project is still underway, which the Makati subway system was supposed to connect to. In its current layout, the Metro Manila subway has no stations in Makati, although there are at least six planned stops in Taguig—Kalayaan Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Lawton Avenue, Senate-DepEd, FTI, and Bicutan.
The Makati City subway was supposed to stretch 11km with 10 stations, around a kilometer away from each other. The entire train system would’ve been built to accommodate around 27,000 commuters per hour, or around 700,000 users daily. After its completion, there were plans to connect the Makati City subway to other public transportation systems, including the MRT-3 train line.
