Manila-Legaspi railway faces delay as NEDA revises project terms

Screengrab from Philippine National Railways (Official PNR Page) Facebook

MANILA — The biggest public-private partnership (PPP) project to date that will connect Metro Manila and the Bicol Region will be delayed after the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) approved last Monday, tweaks in the terms approved by President Aquino in 2015.

NEDA Deputy Director-General Rolando G. Tungpalan confirmed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Tuesday that the state planning agency’s investment coordination committee (ICC) approved the recommended changes in the proposed P170.7-billion, 653-kilometer south line of the North-South Railway Project, which would run from Manila to Legaspi City, Albay.

The incoming Duterte administration nonetheless has the option to either withdraw the changes approved by the NEDA-ICC or continue with the previous terms under the NEDA Board approval.

The adjustments in the project were pushed by the Department of Transportation and Communications, its implementing agency.

The NEDA-ICC approved the transportation department’s proposal to split the project into two, such that the planned commuter railway and the long-haul railway would be bid out to private sector proponents separately.

The original plan approved by the NEDA Board chaired by President Aquino in 2015 consisted of commuter railway operations between Tutuban, Manila, and Calamba, Laguna, as well as a long-haul railway operations between Tutuban and Legazpi, on top of the extended long-haul rail operations on the branch line between Calamba and Batangas as well as an extension between Legazpi and Matnog, Sorsogon, the PPP Center said on its website.

The NEDA-ICC gave a go-ahead to the issuance of a bid bulletin amending the technical specifications of the project, so that the commuter railway segment would proceed as scheduled. The project was already at the procurement stage.

A check with the PPP Center website showed the submission of pre-qualification documents for the project had been postponed until further notice.

But in so far as the long-haul railway segment is concerned, it will be back to square one, virtually restarting the process.

Another tweak in the project’s terms was an increase in the project cost, as the cost of the right-of-way acquisition of P15 million for 38,000 families to be affected would go up as a bigger number, about 100,000 families, could be displaced by expanding the right of way.

The NEDA-ICC, whose approved projects get elevated for NEDA Board approval, already green-lighted these changes “in principle” during a meeting last April 25.

The NEDA-ICC, however, did not approve the proposal to switch from the narrow gauge technology to standard gauge, the latter said to be a “future-proof” technology.

The project’s 36.7-kilometer north line, which will run from Tutuban to Malolos in Bulacan, shall be constructed using a record-high $2-billion official development assistance from Japan.  SFM