The Department of Transportation on Friday said the railway projects funded by the government of Japan are all on track to full completion as scheduled.
The DOTr’s Railways Sector has assured Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has long supported the country’s ambitious rail expansion, that progress in rail development is on track to completion.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista lauded Prime Minister Kishida whose country has 150 years of experience in rail development, has 30,000 kilometers of rail, and 25 billion train riders a year.
“There are no better senseisthan these kind, compassionate, generous, hardworking and honest people,” Bautista said of the Japanese official who is a “tireless cheerleader for Philippine progress.”
“The Philippine railways sector has been a recipient of billions of pesos in Japanese aid. PM Kishida, long before he was Prime Minister, has been instrumental in funneling Japanese assistance to the country’s ambitious rail expansion,” he added.
Bautista said when Prime Minister Kishida was still Japan’s Foreign Affairs Minister in 2017, he was already a backer of Manila’s drive to modernize the transportation system.
“To us, Prime Minister Kishida has always been a member of the Philippine railways team. He’s all aboard,” he said.
Nine big-ticket transport projects – two aviation, two maritime, five railways – are being built or will be delivered on the back of P1.503 billion worth of Japanese aid.
The five railway projects include the LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension, LRT Line 2 East Extension, MRT Line 3 Rehabilitation and Maintenance, the North-South Commuter Rail System and Metro Manila Subway Project.
Prime Minister Kishida is set to visit the subway project depot and its train simulator room in Valenzuela City on Saturday, 4 November.
Civil works are ongoing at the 36-km Metro Manila Subway Project. With 17 stations, the project will cut travel time between Valenzuela City and Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 from 1 hour and 30 minutes to only 35 minutes.
The Japanese leader, Bautista said, “would be happy to know that the Philippine side has lived up to its commitments, that despite challenges, we are on track to what we have committed to deliver.”
