A lawmaker said the Department of Transportation’s (DOTR) plan to operate a cargo rail service between Laguna and Albay will play a “pivotal role” in reenergizing the economy of the Bicol Region, while helping lower food prices for consumers.
A long-time advocate for the revival of the Bicol Express rail line, Rep. Brian Yamsuan of the Bicol party-list group said he hopes that the DOTr would push through with the proposed P5-billion Laguna-Albay freight service project which would significantly bring down logistics costs for Bicol farmers supplying vegetables and other agricultural products to Metro Manila.
“Bicol farmers and traders will immensely benefit from this project. Rail transportation is cheaper and more efficient than trucking services in moving large volumes of cargo over long distances, which, in turn, will help reduce costs for those supplying goods from Bicol to Metro Manila and vice versa,” Yamsuan said. Maricel V. Cruz
Affordable and efficient rail transport would also spur increased business activities between the two points, and with Laguna and nearby provinces where different industrial parks are located.
These developments would help reinvigorate Bicol’s economy and create more jobs in the region, Yamsuan added.
