The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) today (March 28) welcomed another milestone in the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) with the Department of Transportation (DOTr)'s recent unveiling of the project's first trainset.
The DOTr and the Joint Venture of Sumitomo Corporation and Japan Transport Engineering Company (J-TREC) have also signed a contract for another 304 train cars for commuter rolling stocks for the NSCR Extension Project.
The first trainset is a part of the 104 train cars procured for NSCR project to serve the increasing number of commuters between Bulacan and Manila.
Once fully operational, the project will ease the daily commuting experience of the riding public and enhance the north-south infrastructure backbone in Metro Manila and nearby areas.
The combined projects of NSCR and NSCR Extension from Clark International Airport, all the way to Calamba will attract investments, create jobs and boost the Philippine public transportation capacity in the long-term.
The safety and reliability feature of rolling stocks is one of main reasons why NSCR was dubbed as a “Quality Infrastructure project”, according to JICA Chief Representative Sakamoto Takema.
The NSCR is one of the projects that JICA has been supporting under the administration's Build Build Build program to help sustain economic growth in the country.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) reckoned that the program will increase infrastructure investments to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio up to 7 percent level.
JICA is the executing agency of Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA), which handles technical cooperation, ODA loans investment, and grant aid, as well as cooperation volunteers and disaster relief programs.
JICA is the world’s largest bilateral aid agency with its scale of operations amounting to about USD 16.69 billion for JFY 2020 and a worldwide network of almost 100 overseas offices.