The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is bent on proceeding with the Mindanao Railway Project as ordered by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos.
DOTr Undersecretary for Rails Cesar Chavez said the agency would resubmit the proposed Mindanao rail lineto the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to determine whether this would be done via a public private partnership or through official development assistance (ODA).
Former Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez cancelled the country’s loan application with China after the latter failed to act on it despite repeated meetings and communications letters.
“We will have to resubmit this [Mindanao Railway] project to the NEDA in the coming weeks because its already been approved in the past. The intention is to continue the project and re-evaluate whether it will be done through PPP or ODA. We will leave it to the DOF and NEDA,” Chavez said during a forum.
The first rail project outside the Luzon will extend for 102 kilometers, connecting Tagum City, Davao del Norte to Digos City, Davao del Sur. It will have six 5-car passenger trains with three spare cars, four locomotives and 15 freight cars.
Upon project completion, the DOTr expects the daily ridership of the Tagum-Davao-Digos segment to increase to 134,060 and further increase to 237,023 by 2032 and 375,134 by 2042.