DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 14 December)—The first Tagum City-Davao City-Digos City (TDD) segment of the Mindanao Railway Project (MRP) will have go through another deliberation before the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Board to get possible financing from foreign governments.
This after negotiations between the Philippines and China ended with no loan agreement reached.
Romeo Montenegro, assistant secretary of Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), said during “Wednesdays Media Forum at the Habi at Kape” that although the negotiations with the Chinese government were unsuccessful, there is still hope for the railway project.
He said the TDD segment will likely be proposed to countries interested in lending the Philippine government the needed financial requirement to start the construction of the railway project.
“For Tagum-Davao-Digos, this is going to be deliberated again at the NEDA level because the financing for this was previously identified through China but since negotiations ended with no financing agreement, this will be probably proposed to all other possible interested countries that would want to fund the … segment of the Mindanao railway project,” he said.
According to the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the cost of the entire TDD line is pegged at P81.7 billion.
The stations of TDD line will be located in Tagum, Carmen, and Panabo in Davao del Norte; Mudiang, Maa, and Toril in Davao City; and Santa Cruz and Digos City in Davao del Sur.
DOTr said the TDD segment will reduce travel time from 3.5 hours to 1.3 hours between Tagum and Digos and will provide “passengers safe, fast, and reliable transport options on the TDD commuter line.”
It is expected to serve approximately 134,000 riders a day by 2022, up to 237,000 by 2032, and 375,000 by 2042.
The railway system, a flagship project of the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program, was originally targeted to be completed in 2021.
Montenegro said that the Asian Development Bank is doing a study for the Cagayan de Oro to Iligan City segment of the railway project. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
