Government urged to rehabilitate railways

The government should give priority to the rehabilitation and development of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) to decongest Metro Manila of traffic and spur economic development in Central Luzon.

In a press statement, Penpower for Democracy and Good Governance (PDGG) which is holding a one-day conference on good governance in November this year, said they support the view of House Speaker Jose de Venecia that the railways project costing $700 million is a "now or never" case.

De Venecia who was on a PNR test run recently with a House delegation said the rehabilitation and development of the country’s railways which he described as "very old and very dangerous" is urgent.

The speaker said he will propose to President Arroyo a three-year plan to completely rebuild and modernize the railways in Luzon and Mindanao.

He said he would ask the President to create an executive-legislative action group to undertake the program.

The North Railway Project is one of the two candidate projects of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) for possible funding by the Japanese Special Yen Loan Package (SYLP) – Obuchi Fund. The other is the Information Technology (IT) Park.

De Venecia said the railways programs will affect four major lines in Luzon and build a line in Mindanao from Cagayan de Oro to Iligan City.

For the North Rail (Section-1) project from Caloocan City to Calumpit in Bulacan, major components are civil and track works, electrification, signaling and communications, rolling stock and others.

Section-2 of the project will extend the line from Caloocan City to Fort Bonifacio, while Section-3 will complete the link from Calumpit to Clark in Pampanga.

The railway project will solve the increasing traffic problem and squatting, housing, water, sanitation and unemployment. It will also become the cheapest and fastest means of transporting goods and commuters from Luzon provinces to Manila and vice versa, supporters of the project said.

It is high time the government put at the top of its list of projects to be funded by SYLP this North Rail rehabilitation and development project in Luzon as well as in Mindanao, the group reiterated.