A party-list lawmaker remains upbeat over the revival and modernization of the Philippine National Railways’ (PNR) Bicol Express rail line under the Marcos administration.
This Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan of Bicol Saro party-list group, said even after the Department of Transportation (DOTr) abandoned China as a funding source for the project.
Yamsuan cited one key indicator showing that President Marcos is keen on pursuing the rebirth of the Bicol Express is the recent ground-breaking of resettlement sites for residents of Laguna and Quezon who will be affected by the construction of the rail project, Yamsuan said.
“President Marcos is not only bent on reviving and modernizing the Bicol Express as he had promised Bicolanos. He is also making sure that affected residents would not be neglected by ensuring that they get to resettle in livable communities. This is the strongest indicator that the project will push through,” Yamsuan said.
Dropping the loan application with China for the project could prove to be even more beneficial for the government, as it could tap other funding sources offering more cost-effective financing packages, Yamsuan pointed out. Maricel Cruz
Yamsuan has long been pushing for the rebirth of the once-famed Bicol Express rail line as a modern, efficient and environment-friendly means of transportation.
The first stage of the revival of the Bicol Express line, known as the South Long Haul Project, will start from Banlic in Laguna and will traverse several areas of that province and the provinces of Quezon, Camarines Sur and Albay. The line will end in Daraga, Albay. An extension of the line in Sorsogon is also being eyed.
Last week, the DOTr said that it was ditching China as a partner in implementing three of its big-ticket projects—the South Long Haul, the Mindanao Railway and the Subic-Clark Railway—as the Chinese government appears to have lost interest in financing them.
DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista, however, said it was working closely with the Department of Finance (DOF) in looking for other funding sources for these projects.
Bautista also revealed that it has teamed up with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), the National Housing Authority (NHA), and the provincial governments of Laguna and Quezon for the construction of 3,651 housing units worth a combined P2.83 billion, for residents affected by the South Long Haul Project.
The designated sites are located in San Pablo City in Laguna, and Tiaong, Candelaria, Sariaya, and Pagbilao in the province of Quezon.
With these preparations for the reconstruction of the Bicol Express underway, the DOTr should consider adopting the Public-Partnership Program (PPP) mode to get the project off the ground, Yamsuan said.
Yamsuan said his proposed PPP mode involves tapping foreign funding institutions like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to provide financing for the electromechanical system of the project, while the government funds the right-of-way acquisition and rolling stock, and partners with the private sector for the civil works aspect of the project.
Reconstructing the Bicol Express will be a “game-changer” that would accelerate economic growth in South Luzon, create highly skilled jobs in the railways sector and open hundreds of thousands of employment opportunities for Bicolanos, Yamsuan has said.
Connecting Laguna to Bicol, the first package of the 368-kilometer Bicol Express project is expected to reduce travel time between the two points from the current 14-18 hours to six hours, using regular commuter trains, and 4.5 hours, using the line’s express trains, according to the DOTr.
The project connects to the massive North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) System, which was originally envisioned to link the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga in the north, to Metro Manila and Laguna in the South.