Mindanao Railway Project to Kick Off in 2018

The implementation of Mindanao Railway Project will
start next year according to Philippines’ House of Representatives Speaker,
Pantaleon Alvarez.

Mindanao Railway
Photo: Inquirer.net
The details of the massive and useful infrastructure
are as follows:
§  Project involves construction of the 2,000-kilometer
Mindanao Railway Project (MRP) which costs about US$9 billion will kick start
next year.
§  Congress is working for the provision of funding in
the General Appropriation Act to be used for the acquisition of properties for
the project.
§  The new railway system will link major cities of
Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Zamboanga, Butuan, Surigao, General Santos and Davao.
§  The feasibility of the project has been completed by
JICA, according to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), and will
be presented to the NEDA Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) by the third
quarter of this year.

According to Alvarez, the initial phase of infrastructure implementation will initiate in 2018 adding that the first phase will construct the railway link from Davao del Sur to Davao del Norte.

In addition to this, Alvarez said the second phase will be from Davao del Norte to Butuan City, while the third phase will start from Butuan to Cagayan de Oro. The fourth phase, he noted, will be from Cagayan de Oro to Iligan and Zamboanga peninsula.

The House Speaker also mentioned that the loop from Cagayan de Oro passing Cotabato to Davao will complete the rail system in Mindanao.

Earlier, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) reported that the feasibility study of the MRP has been completed and is set to be presented to the NEDA Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) by the third quarter this year.

Three countries namely Malaysia, Japan and China are interested to build the railway system, the NEDA stated.

Considered as one of the four major and massive railway systems which President Rodrigo Duterte promised to build, the Mindanao project will connect major cities of Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Zamboanga, Butuan, Surigao, General Santos and Davao.

The other infrastructure projects which the Chief Executive vowed to establish are:

·       Luzon
Spine Expressway Network which include the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union
Expessway, North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), STAR
Toll.  Manila-Nueva Vizcaya, Manila-Sorsogon,
and Manila-Batangas.
·       Mega
Manila Subway Project – that will be constructed using the .Japanese tunneling
expertise
·       Other
railways:
o    Philippine National Railway (PNR) North
Railway – connecting Manila and Clark
o    PNR South Railway – two components – one
connecting Manila and Calamba and Los Banos in Laguna the other is Manila to
Bicol.
o   Subic-Clark
Cargo Rail – will connect Subic Port with Clark Airport to help facilitate
goods and decongest ports in Manila.

The Mindanao Railway System is one of the banner programs of President Rodrigo R. Duterte and is expected to improve connectivity between the different regions. The improved plan is also projected to result to an enhancement in the level of exchange among regions in terms of goods, products, and people.

1 thought on “Mindanao Railway Project to Kick Off in 2018”

Leave a Comment

Boklit