DOTr to award more rail contracts

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is set to award until 2022 a number of contracts for major railway projects in the country.

In the virtual forum on transportation hosted by the Management Association of the Philippines, Timothy John Batan, DOTr undersecretary for railways, said as of end- 2020, DOTr has awarded 35 contracts on rail projects with an average contract cost of P16.8 billion per project.

DOTr is set to award 34 more contracts until 2022.

“We have a long way to go. We have 34 more contracts to award up to 2022 which will increase our average contract size to P22 billion. All of this is part of the P1.7 trillion budget for the rail sector,” Batan said.

Of the total projects under procurement, 17 are ongoing and 17 are set to be procured.

Projects that are currently in the procurement stage are for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) line 1 extension to Cavite, LRT-2 West Extension, Mindanao Railway, three contracts for the Metro Manila Subway project and 12 contracts for the Philippine National Railways (PNR) Clark phase 2 project.

Batan said nine more contracts will be awarded for the PNR Clark phase 2 within the year.

The DOTr also intends to award the civil works for the PNR Bicol segment within the year, said Batan.

In a related development, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade wants drivers and conductors of public utility vehicles (PUV) as well as the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) displaced by the pandemic to be hired and work in DOTr projects such as the PNR Clark phase 1 project.

Tugade said some 200 former OFWs are now working in the project as he encouraged more displaced OFWs to join.

He also called on other displaced workers in the transport sector, including PUV drivers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, to work in DOTr projects.

At least 7,500 workers are employed during the construction of the project, while 2,000 additional jobs will be made available once the project becomes operational, Tugade said.

The PNR Clark Phase 1, the railway system that will connect Tutuban in Manila and Malolos in Bulacan, is now at 45.82 percent overall progress rate.

Upon completion, the 38-kilometer rail line can carry 300,000 passengers daily and shorten travel time from Malolos to Tutuban to just 35 minutes, as compared to the previous 1 hour and 30 minutes.

PNR Clark Phase 1 forms part of the big-ticket 148-km. North-South Commuter Railway project under the massive “Build, Build, Build” program of the Duterte administration.

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