KDDI Philippines revealed that it has been contracted by French transportation systems company Thales to build the telecoms infrastructure for the first subway system in the Philippines.
The planned 30-km subway system will connect the northern city of Valenzuela and the southern city of Parañaque in the metro Manila area. Under the contract with Thales – which will supply the transportation systems for the project – KDDI Philippines will construct the telecoms system and fare collection system in collaboration with partner companies.
The telecoms infrastructure includes piping components, cabling work and equipment installation. Deployment of the fare collection system will include installation work of ticket gates and ticket vending machines, and delivery and installation of communication equipment, servers and other equipment.
The KDDI project covers fifteen stations from East Valenzuela Station to NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) Terminal 3 Station, as well as the depot and operation control center.
The subway is being built to alleviate the growing traffic congestion problem in metro Manila as the city’s population increases. According to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, metro Manila’s population has grown from 7.92 million in 1990 to approximately 13.48 million in 2023, but development of public transportation is lagging behind that growth. The ODA says economic losses due to traffic congestion are estimated to be 3.5 billion pesos (US$64.4 million) per day.
The subway project is being financed by Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA), which signed a loan agreement for 104.5 billion yen (US$709 million) with the Philippine government in March 2018.
KDDI Philippines said it signed its contract with Thales in December 2023.
The subway project is expected to be completed in FY2029.