Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan (Facebook)




Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan is calling for greater cooperation between the government and private sector to help make the proposed Philippine National Railways (PNR) South Long Haul Project a reality. "The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said that it is currently looking for private investors for some of its rail projects, including the South Long Haul Project that will run all the way to Bicol," Yamsuan said in a statement. "This project has long been proven viable for private investors considering that some of our corporate giants have long expressed interest in reviving the long-idle Bicol Express," the rookie solon said. "Reviving and modernizing the Bicol Express will put on the express lane Bicolandia’s economic development. Dapat magtulong ang gobyerno at ang pribadong sektor para mai-Bicol Express na ang pag-unlad ng Bicol (The government and private sector must cooperate to place Bicol’s progress on the express train),” he further said. He noted that under past administrations, at least three big private firms have confirmed their interest in reviving the Bicol Express through a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme. San Miguel Corp., Ayala Corp., and Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) have expressed interest in bidding for the Bicol Express project way back in 2015, Yamsuan recalled. However, the plan was stalled because MPIC was concerned over the timing of the bidding for the project, which at that time was less than a year before the late President Benigno S. Aquino III was to step down from office. Yamsuan said that with private investors earlier being able to put up a consortium and present an unsolicited proposal  to rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the same could be done with the modernization of the Bicol Express. Estimated to cost P142 billion, the first package of the Bicol Express under the PNR’s South Long Haul Project connects Metro Manila to Bicol and is expected to reduce travel time between the two points from the current 14 to 18  hours to just 4 to 6 hours. It is among the big-ticket rail projects included in the list of priority infrastructure projects under House Bill (HB) No.8078, which provides for a 30-year national infrastructure program for 2023 up to 2052. The bill was approved on third and final reading last May.