The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has set aside P600 million to assess the commercial viability of a set of big-ticket railway projects.
Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista said the fund will be used to initiate feasibility studies for the PNR North Long Haul, the Panay Railway, the North Mindanao Railway and the San Mateo Railway projects.
Bautista said funding for the 10,024-kilometer endeavor will come from the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center, from official development assistance (ODA) sources and from the existing budget.
The Transport chief said the procurement process is ongoing and for the consultancy firms to conduct the feasibility studies for the projects lined up by the administration.
The PNR North Long Haul will be pursued in four phases: the Clark-La Union, La Union-Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Sur-Ilocos Norte and Cagayan Valley.
The project is designed to link strategic infrastructure, logistics system, and the economic zones such as the Clark Freeport Zone, Poro Point Freeport Zone, the Laoag International Airport, Port Irene, and the Cagayan North International Airport (Lal-lo Airport).
The Panay Railway project seeks to establish a modern and efficient railway system across the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Iloilo. It will serve as a vital link between the major cities, towns, and economic hubs, facilitating the movement of goods, services, and people.
The Northern Mindanao Project, meanwhile, involves the financing, design, construction and the operations and maintenance of a 54.8-kilometer high-capacity, initially inter-city passenger railway system spanning across the highly urbanized city of Cagayan de Oro, connecting the Municipalities of Laguindingan and Villanueva, Misamis Oriental.
The San Mateo Railway will be built as a 17-km feeder rail line that connects LRT Line 2 to the municipalities of San Mateo and Rodriguez in Rizal province.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at his 2nd State of the Nation Address committed to maintain an annual spending on infrastructures of up to 6 percent of the gross domestic product from 2023 to 2028, equivalent to $20 billion to $40 billion a year more or less.
Under the Build-Better-More program, the government identified 194 infrastructure projects worth around P8.3 trillion more or less.
