Romualdez bats for North-South commuter rail system

Senatorial candidate and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Friday urged the government to “get its priorities right” by starting the proposed North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) in Luzon as soon as possible.

“This railway project, once completed, will greatly facilitate the movement of people and goods in the main island of Luzon, create new growth centers in the regions and thus boost national economic development,” the lawmaker said in a statement.

The independent Romualdez, a guest candidate of the United Nationalist Alliance, also proposed that similar railway projects be built on Panay island and other regions in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Such projects would accelerate economic growth in the rural areas and bring the country to First World status in the next two or three decades, he said.

“It’s a matter of priorities. Where should we spend the national budget? I think we should now build a modern railway system that will span the whole of Luzon—and later the Visayas and Mindanao—and allow us to leapfrog to industrialized status,” Romualdez said.

The initial phase of the P97-billion NSCR project will involve a 38-kilometer elevated commuter train line from Tutuban, Manila, to Malolos, Bulacan, after the signing of a financing deal in November with the Japan International Cooperation Agency.