The Department of Transportation (DOTr) reported on Friday (April 23) that active railway projects under the Duterte administration have increased threefold.
According to DOTr Undersecretary Timothy John Batan, the nine contracts under the railway sector in July 2016 improved to 34 railways contracts by December 2020.
“Bawat kontrata po ay naghahalaga ng abot sa P16 billion, at makikita po natin diyan kung gaano po talaga ang ating catch up [Each contract is worth up to P16 billion, and we can see from that how much we need to catch up],” Batan said.
“At iyan po ay aakyat pa nang higit sa 60 na mga kontrata sa katapusan ng termino ni Pangulong Duterte [That will increase to over 60 contracts by the end of President Duterte’s term],” Batan added.
He said there were only 77 kilometers of operational lines nationwide in 2016, with 61 stations and 234 trains. By 2022, there will be 1,200 kilometers “throughout the country” with 168 stations and more than 1,300 trains.
Batan also reported that P515 million worth of projects in 2016 ballooned to Php1.7 trillion under the current projects funded by various development partners, with 48% from Japan International Cooperation Agency, 27% from Asian Development Bank, 18% from China, and 6% from public-private partnerships.
The official said these improvements will help ease the traffic situation in the National Capital Region (NCR), adding that P1.2 trillion is being lost yearly due to traffic congestion in NCR, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite. – AG-jlo
Watch this interview with DOTr USec. Batan for more details:
