Published on May 4, 2015 - 12:00 am | The Philippine Star
By Danessa O. Rivera
MANILA, Philippines
— The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) hopes to start by end-June a feasibility study that would finally kick off the long-proposed light railway transit project deemed crucial for the economic development in Mindanao.
The state planning agency has received eligibility submissions from eight consulting firms interested in taking on the role to conduct the study for the Mindanao Railway Project, Omer Tiblani, a member of the agency’s bids and awards committee, said by phone last week.
The Mindanao Railway Project would link major cities including Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Zamboanga City, Butuan, Surigao, Davao and General Santos.
The NEDA noted, that, the development of project has long been planned but never realized.
The state planning agency said the proposed railway transport service “will play a major role towards improvement of Mindanao’s intra island accessibility, linkages and seamless multimodal transport networks.”
“The island is strategically located and has potential as a major transshipment point and center of trade in the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) region,” it added.
This project will help the Southeast Asian regional integration master plan on ASEAN Connectivity.
The state planning agency has earmarked P30 million for the contract, taken out from the P400-million FSP under the General Appropriations Act of 2014.
Once the study in done 11 months after the notice to proceed, the Department of Transportation and Communications will be the implementing agency.
source: The Philippine Star
