Newly-appointed Department of Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon suspended plans to privatize the EDSA Busway system’s operations and maintenance this year as the agency prioritizes the rehabilitation of the stations before transferring them to a private concessionaire.
Dizon said in a news briefing the agency would instead bid out contracts for the improvement of the existing stations, with construction expected to begin in the second half of the year.
“We’re going to start the process of bidding out for the improvement of the stations this year. There’s a budget allocated for that, and we will use the model stations of SM North Edsa and SM Megamall and replicate those in all 21 remaining stations,” Dizon said.
Dizon said the bidding process is expected to start by May, with contract awards targeted by June. The construction, on the other hand, is set to start in the latter half of the year.
Dizon said the goal is to complete the station upgrades by February or March 2026. Once the stations and infrastructure upgrades are completed, the government would proceed with the privatization of the busway’s O&M, he said.
“My suggestion is we need to [offer for] PPP [public-private partnership] the O&M of what we’re going to build in the next six months, one year, and then two years,” Dizon said.
Dizon’s decision reverses the previous announcement by former DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista earlier this year, who said the privatization process would begin in 2025.
The NCR EDSA Busway Project involves the financing, design and construction of enhanced bus stations, operations control centers and parking depots and the purchase, operations and maintenance of a high-capacity busway plying through EDSA and other major and feeder roads.
It is expected to enhance the existing EDSA Carousel to address the high demand for transportation services along the median of EDSA and feeder roads by increasing capacity and service reliability.
Despite the new schedule, Dizon remains confident that the Edsa Busway will be transformed into a modern and efficient transport system within the next few years.
“We are confident that within the president’s term, by 2026 or 2027, we will really have a proper, very modern busway carousel system,” he said.