Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte is supporting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fresh orders to the Department of Transport (DOTr) to speed up two long-drawn-out transport projects that will give a tremendous boost to the local economies and domestic tourism in Camarines Sur and the rest of the Bicol Region.
Villafuerte said these connectivity projects that were given priority status by the DOTr, and yet never got off the ground, under the previous Duterte administration are the runway expansion of the Naga Airport, so it can accommodate bigger aircraft, and the Philippine National Railways-South Long Haul (PNR-SLH) or “Bicol Express.”
The project is expected to cut travel time from a half-day to just four hours from Metro Manila to—passing CamSur—Albay or Sorsogon.
Villafuerte said the President issued his twin directives on how to possibly fast-track the “Bicol Express” and the Naga airport upgrade during last week’s Regional Development Council (RDC) in CamSur’s capital municipality of Pili.
“The President gave his fresh orders on the ‘Bicol Express” and the expansion of the Naga Airport runway to DOTr Undersecretary (Timothy John) Batan during an RDC Region V meeting in Pili last Friday (March 7),” Villafuerte, who is president of the National Unity Party (NUP), said.