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| Artist rendition of Malolos–Clark Railway Project. (Photo courtesy of JICA.) |
Another one President Rodrigo Duterte’s BUILD BUILD BUILD
infrastructure project is set to get underway.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved the
funding of up to $2.75 billion for the construction of 53.1 kilometers (km) of
a passenger railway connecting Malolos, a suburb north of Manila, to Clark
economic zone and Clark International Airport in Central Luzon.
The Malolos-Clark railway is part of the government’s North–South
Commuter Railway (NSCR) project, which will be stretching from New Clark City
in Tarlac to Calamba in the south.
The said project aims to provide safe, reliable, and
affordable public transport and is expected to be completed in the year 2025.
It will serve an estimated 342,000 passengers daily along
the Manila–Clark corridor and up to 696,000 passengers per day to Calamba by
2025.
The railway will reduced the travel time from Metro Manila
to Clark International Airport to less than an hour, compared to 2 to 3
hours by car or bus today.
“ADB’s partnership with the Philippines has always been
strong, and it has become stronger in the last three years,” said ADB President
Mr. Takehiko Nakao
“The government’s Build, Build, Build (BBB) program is
clearly steering the much-needed acceleration in infrastructure spending, from
less than 2% of gross domestic product a decade ago to 6.3% now, well on track
to achieve the 7% target by 2022. One of the key flagship projects of the BBB
program is the Malolos–Clark railway.”
“It will be ADB’s single largest infrastructure project
financing ever, and from a development perspective, we are pleased this
investment is taking place in ADB’s host country. The project, combined with
other investments in light rail transit, metro rail transit, and subway
systems, will bring back the culture of rail transport in Metro Manila,” said
Mr. Nakao.
The project is also co-financed by the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) with up to $2 billion.
ADB is committed to accomplishing a prosperous, inclusive,
resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while supporting its efforts
to eradicate extreme poverty.
The Malolos-Clark railway project is expected to be
partially operational from 2022.
Source: ADB
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