Valenzuela to assist residents affected by railway project

The Valenzuela City government, in an effort to help expedite the construction of a modern railway in Northern Luzon, has created a local commitee tasked to assist the city’s rail dwellers who were affected by the project.

"We created the Local Inter-Agency Committee (LIAC) to provide the over-all direction for the relocation of informal settlers affected by the Northrail project," Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian said.

The modernization of the North Luzon railway system affects at least 40,000 families, more than 4,000 of whom are from Valenzuela.

As early as October last year, the city government has started relocating its informal settlers along the north main line.

"The City of Valenzuela has much to gain from the Northrail project in terms of spurring development in the city," Gatchalian said.

He added that it would open doors to new business and investment opportunities and create new jobs.

The mayor also said that the upgrading of the Philippine National Railway (PNR) system would greatly benefit commuters and would result in the decongestion of the city’s main thoroughfares, particularly the MacArthur Highway.

Traffic in MacArthur Highway has become so congested as motorists had been monitored to pass by the area to avoid high toll at the North Luzon Expressway.

An in-city relocation site in Barangay Bignay is now being fasttracked in coordination with housing czar Vice President Noli de Castro and Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, chairman of the Senate committee on urban planning, housing and resettlement and the National Housing Authority.

The two officials conducted an ocular inspection Saturday of the relocation site and talked with the affected families. — Pete Laude