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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has received proposals for a feasibility study on the planned revival of Panay Island’s railway system.
“Our rail group is currently studying [them],” DOTr undersecretary Raoul Creencia told the press yesterday.
Creencia did not say how many proposals the department has received nor did he identify the interested parties.
“It all starts with the feasibility study,” he said. “[And], as you know, once the President identifies an infrastructure project, the objective is to finish it within his term.”
In his first State of the Nation Address in July, President Rodrigo Duterte pushed for the revival of the Panay railway system.
The state-owned Panay Railways, Inc. used to operate the railway from Iloilo City to Capiz province. The train system stopped operating in the early 1980s.
The DOTr undersecretary for legal and procurement said they have not yet set a timeline for the feasibility study but clarified it “takes time.”
And the government will need “foreign technical consultants,” said Creencia, one of the speakers at yesterday’s 4th National Conference of Independent Business Groups at the Iloilo Convention Center in Mandurriao district.
“We don’t have a rich supply of rail experts in the country,” he stressed.
In huge infrastructure projects, making a detailed engineering design out of a feasibility study entails a lot of time, too, said Creencia.
“But what people should appreciate and understand and be happy about is we are starting the process of filling the infrastructure gap,” he said.
The government is also constructing the Mindanao Railway System.
The DOTr reportedly targets to award the contract for the 2,000-kilometer Mindanao railway project before the end of 2017.
A Chinese company will conduct the feasibility study for the Mindanao Railway System.
A similar company might do the same for the Panay railway, Creencia said.
Among the countries engaged in the railway business are South Korea, China and Japan.
Creencia said the government still considers feasibility study offers from other “potential project proponents” even though there is a past or ongoing study.
“I say ‘potential’ because when we sign an agreement with a company that will provide a feasibility study, that is free, and there is no commitment to further engaged with them,” he said.
“That works in all our PPP (public-private partnership) projects,” he added. “That is why the government has the opportunity to look at various feasibility studies if available.”/PN
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