The government is willing to finance the first phase of North-South Commuter Railway costing P117.3 billion to expedite its completion, the Transportation Department said Tuesday.
The project is among the six transport projects recently approved by the National Economic Development Authority board.
“There is a Jica [Japan International Cooperation Agency] proposal to do it through ODA [overseas development assistance]. That usually takes time, so we’ve been instructed to talk to Jica. If the time frame would not change, the government has the option to finance the project through the national budget. We think it would be fastest,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya told reporters.
He said the government would wait for Jica’s reaction “but definitely it would be longer if it will be JICA ODA than the government to shoulder and finance just to shorten the time line.”
The Neda board approved two projects under the North-South Railway masterplan, including phase 1 of North-South Commuter Railway and the North-South Railway project south line costing P170.7 billion.