The government is still setting its eyes on China's funding for the South Long Haul Railway Project, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said.
Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista told reporters that the Export-Import Bank of China sent its technical working group to the country last year to look into the progress of right-of-way acquisition for the project.
This came months after the announcement that DOTr projects which include the South Long Haul Project, along with the Mindanao Railway Project, and Subic-Clark Railway, will no longer be funded through Chinese official development assistance (ODA).
“Regarding the South Long Haul or the PNR project, we have not terminated negotiations with China. The negotiations with China is still ongoing,” he said on the sidelines of an inspection for the Metro Manila subway project last Monday, Feb. 26.
“In fact, the China Exim Bank technical team was here last December and looking into the progress of our right-of-way acquisition and look at other studies being conducted by the Chinese consultants,” he added.
In the meantime, there are still no plans to close the deal with China as the finance department has to decide on this matter, Transport Undersecretary Jeremy Regino said.
The 577-kilometer South Luzon railway will have 33 stations from Metro Manila, which will pass through Batangas, all the way to Bicol.
It is expected to reduce travel time from 14 hours to 18 hours by road to a six-hour ride by regular commuter trains or a 4.5-hour commute by express trains.
Financing Mindanao railway
For the Mindanao railway, meanwhile, its funding may be obtained from the Japan International Cooperation Agency through ODA or public-private partnership, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said.
“I just wanted to add that there are many ways to procure the project one is through JICA or ODA the other would be through PPP we have already a new PPP code,” Recto said.
“We are just awaiting as well the updated feasibility study of the project and then we can discuss the best way to procure the project,” he added.
The funding for the Mindanao railway could also be done hybrid wherein the costs for the right-of-way acquisition could be done by the government, electromechanical funded by ODA, and civil works through private partners, said Regino.
“The ridership of the Mindanao Rail is not as high as the ridership in Metro Manila,” Regino said, noting that it will make the project more viable.
With the project being inherited from the previous administration, the DOTr will have to update the feasibility study to look into the costs, and if it exceeds ten percent, then it will be passed to the National Economic and Development Authority for review.