Good news for the Philippines!
A big boost to its transport system and for the country’s
progress in general.
The Philippines will be having its very own first metro grade
train system, with the capacity to carry about one million passengers a day, by
2022.
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| (photo credit to owner) |
The Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez
III and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Director-General
Shigenori Ogawa signed Monday the PHP80.47 billion loan agreement, which is the
first tranche of Japan’s financing support for the North-South Commuter Railway
(NSCR) Extension Project.
The NSCR Extension Project of the Philippine National
Railways (PNR) has three components, the 38-kilometer line from Manila to
Malolos, Bulacan; the 53-km. line from Malolos, Bulacan to Clark, Pampanga; and
the 56-km. line from Manila to Calamba, Laguna, all in all its a 147km
extension project.
Under the Duterte’s Build, Build, Build program, its total
cost is pegged at P628.42 Billion, making it by far the biggest combined
project.
“The economic benefits of improved mobility for our commuters
in this very large urban sprawl will far outweigh the total investment for this
project,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez in his speech in the signing ceremony said the
government again adopted the “fast and sure” in the processing of the loan, including
that of the PHP18.22-billion funding for the fourth phase of the Pasig-Marikina
River Channel Improvement Project, was done within two months.
“This is, by far, the fastest loan processing time in the
history of Philippines-Japan bilateral cooperation. We would like to share the
credit here with our counterparties, who espoused the same sense of urgency and
trusted our commitment to get these projects done,” he said.
The Department of Transportation disclosed that initial
operations of the rail system is targeted to be in 2022.
Projected passengers
during the initial runs is about 350,000 per day.
“But the railway can accommodate up to 1.1 million passengers
per day,” Department of Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan,said.
Country’s first metro-grade train system
PNR General Manager Junn Magno,explains that both the
Light Rail Transit (LRT) and the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) are metro-grade
systems, but have lighter capacities. Since this particular train system
in its full capacity can accommodate a million passengers a day in 2023, this
will be the country’s first metro-grade train system.
“This is our first metro grade (rail) system, meaning it can
reach one million in capacity. The capacity is there, passengers na lang ang kulang.
(we just need the passengers),” he added.
Low interest rate
The Finance department disclosed that the financing for the NSCR Extension has an
interest rate of 0.1 percent per annum for non-consulting services and 0.01
percent per annum for consulting services.
It is repayable within 40 years, inclusive of a 12-year grace
period.
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