DMCI bags P16 billion contract to build NAIA subway line

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

April 6, 2026 | 12:00am

After 3-year wait

MANILA, Philippines — The long-delayed construction of the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) has made progress in one of its most important sections following the award of the P16-billion contract to put up the airline line.

Infrastructure giant D.M. Consunji Inc. (DMCI) is bagging subway contracts one after the other, this time securing the deal for the spur line to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) issued Contract Package (CP) 109 to the joint venture of DMCI and Taisei Corp., as declared in a notice of award, The STAR learned.

The DMCI-Taisei joint venture will be paid P16.06 billion, exclusive of 12-percent value-added tax, to build the airport line. On top of this, the contract involves foreign-denominated payments of $20.17 million and 7.03 billion Japanese yen.

However, the DOTr will be forced to pay the contractor more to cover the price difference during the two-year delay in the bidding. The submitted bid price of DMCI and Taisei was P16 billion, but P66.18 million had to be added to account for inflation in 2024 and 2025.

The DOTr released the invitation for bids for CP 109 in May 2023, but the agency struggled with right of way (ROW) problems in MMSP, leaving some contracts hanging.

Further, CP 109 covers the construction of tunnels and a station in NAIA, whose future was also uncertain a few years back in light of a P170.6-billion push to privatize its management.

It was only in September 2024 that the government handed over the keys to operate and maintain the airport to private concessionaire New NAIA Infrastructure Corp., led by San Miguel Corp.

CP 109 is one of the most important segments of MMSP. The section, once completed, will hook NAIA to a railway for the first time, easing commuter access to the country’s main gateway.

It will also solve one of the country’s perennial problems in transport connectivity. NAIA has been accessible only by private car and select buses, falling behind model airports in Asian neighbors that are connected to railways like Singapore’s Changi Airport.

Moreover, CP 109 marks the third subway project bagged by DMCI following CP 102 (Quezon Avenue to East Avenue) and CP 105 (Kalayaan to Bonifacio Global City), both with Nishimatsu Construction Co. Ltd.

The only remaining subway contract yet to be awarded is CP 108, covering the segment in Lawton and Senate-DepEd, located in Taguig City.

As a whole, the MMSP is picking up pace in construction, reaching 27.08 percent completion as of February, according to a report obtained by The STAR.

Tunnel boring machines have excavated at least 5.37 kilometers of distance so far. Construction is ongoing in the depot in Valenzuela City and 10 stations in the alignment.

The DOTr is also aiming to complete ROW acquisition this year. The agency has procured 82.37 percent of the ROW for the subway following the resolution of highly-challenging segments like Ortigas and White Plains in 2025.

The MMSP, costing P488.5 billion, is set to become the country’s first underground railway that would run for 33 kilometers across six cities in Metro Manila.

The subway will reduce travel time between Valenzuela City and NAIA to just 41 minutes, from 1.5 hours right now, and it is expected to serve up to 520,000 commuters daily.

Originally, the MMSP was scheduled to be finished by 2029, but its completion was moved to as far as 2032 due to construction delays resulting from ROW issues.