The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Wednesday vowed to accelerate the completion of big-ticket infrastructure projects worth P4.8 trillion designed to sustain the country’s transport industry.
“We are rushing projects to reduce traffic, waiting lines, smoke-belching jeepneys, flight cancellations and many other passenger inconveniences,” Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said.
Bautista said flagship transport infrastructures as the railway systems aim to provide the public with improved mobility and connectivity across the country.
“The big-ticket railway projects of the Department of Transportation aim to resurrect the country’s once thriving rail industry while promoting a highly sustainable form of transportation,”he said.
With so-called shovel-ready infrastructure projects and human capital investment, Bautista said the transport agency is “pushing this multi-sectoral approach to urban development.”
Bautista said a big part of the agency’s budget is allocated to projects as the LRT-1 Cavite Extension, MRT-3 rehabilitation, MRT-7, MRT-4, North-South Commuter Railway, Metro Manila Subway, South Long-Haul Railway, Mindanao Railway, North Long-Haul Project, San Mateo Railway, MRT-10, MRT-11, and LRT-6.
He also said the Active Transport Program, Automated Fare Collection System, and Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP), along with other road-based initiatives, are also part of the projects that observe the principles of transit-oriented development (TOD).
According to Bautista, of the 197 infrastructure flagship projects (IFPs) approved by the National Economic Development (NEDA), 73 are DOTr undertakings collectively valued at P4.775 trillion.
DOTr projects in the pipeline exceed 160, including 28 projects under the aviation sector, 26 under maritime, 59 under railways and 47 under roads.
