DAVAO CITY — The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) has proposed to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) the crafting of feasibility studies (FS) for the 12 segments of the Mindanao Railway System (MRS) project.
For now, the government is undertaking the detailed engineering design (DED) of the Tagum-Davao City-Digos (TDD) phase targeted for completion by June.
“Granting it will be finished by that month then the bidding for the FS will proceed and hopefully construction may start by the end of this year or early next year,” said MinDA assistant secretary Romeo Montenegro.
The TDD is a 105-kilometer segment with an estimated cost of PHP31.5 billion.
It is one segment of the larger 830 kilometer Mindanao Railway network to connect major cities, seaports, economic zones to allow faster transportation of passengers and freight with daily ridership of 100,000 at a travel time of one hour.
“After the completion of the detailed engineering design then the crafting of the FS will follow,” he said.
Montenegro said the proposal is for the crafting of FS for all the segments because it would take time if government waits for the completion of one FS before starting on the FS of the next segment.
He said there are many investors interested already about the project and “if we do not have the ready FS we have nothing to show to them”.
Meanwhile, Montenegro said MinDA also proposed to handle the implementation of the railway system to ensure its fast implementation. But, he said this is still subject to further discussion. (Digna D. Banzon/PNA).
