'Trains and boats and planes'

With the publicity generated by the appointment of Mar Roxas as DOTC Secretary and his eventual acceptance of his new assignment, the former senator just made Burt Bacharach’s composition very popular. But the reality is - this new job is not an “easy song to sing.” This big challenge could either make or break Mar, especially if he has plans come 2016. A number of people are waiting to see how the new Transportation and Communications chief will untangle the crisscrossing problems that have been bedeviling the DOTC for so many years. While some power blocs in Malacañang are happy to see Mar Roxas out of the President’s inner circle, little do they know this big Cabinet portfolio could in fact catapult Mar to the presidency. As President Noy had remarked, the agency handles big-ticket items and controversies alleging corruption involving billions of pesos somehow end up getting connected with DOTC projects. So if Mar succeeds and gets things moving quickly at the DOTC and maybe even make some heads roll - he could very well compose his own song and end up singing it in Malacañang.

Northrail derailed

First on the list that Mar needs to look into, even with his hands full pushing for private-public partnership (PPP) projects, are those that have been started but are left languishing because of the controversies attached to them. Take for instance the Northrail project that is supposed to link Metro Manila to Clark and even as far as San Fernando, La Union. When it was first broached sometime in 2003, it gave so much promise because it could help decongest Metro Manila traffic and cut the travel time to Manila from Bulacan, Pampanga and other nearby provinces in the North, and can accommodate as much as 350,000 passengers per day using high speed trains.

However, nobody seems to know the status of this project but sources tell us that Section 1 running from Caloocan to Malolos in Bulacan is less than 20-percent complete. Like its website, the Northrail project has been “under construction” since 2008 with nothing much to show during all that time ever since CNMEG suspended construction work. Not surprisingly, the Chinese are disappointed, what with all the wasted time and money spent for the initial phases.

Allegations of corruption have derailed the project whose

 jurisdiction has been transferred from the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) to the DOTC which has been reviewing the contract and last we heard, there’s supposed to be “nothing wrong with it” so there won’t be a cancellation to this long delayed-project. After the initial investigations and the usual perorations from legislators, nothing much has been heard since - with even the DOTC not seeming to know the status of the project. Up to this day, they cannot seem to move forward with the construction of the railroad.

Underutilized Subic

The Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) is another example of wasted economic opportunity, having been virtually reduced to a flight training facility for Cessna, Beechcraft, Piper and other small planes that potential pilots want to learn to fly. The fact is, it could very well accommodate wide-bodied aircraft like Boeing and Airbus planes including the Jumbo Airbus 380. Whatever happened to the big hullabaloo accompanying the arrival of FVR in Subic after coming from a visit to the United States showcasing SBIA’s capability as an international airport?

Last year, SBMA administrator Armand Arreza (going, going or not) mulled the possibility of closing the facility because it had been unprofitable after FedEx closed shop. According to Arreza, SBMA spends P250 million a year for maintenance costs “whether or not airplanes actually land there,” disclosing that even with the presence of FedEx, the airport was barely breaking even. Currently, Guam-based Aviation Concepts has upgraded a 100,000-square foot hangar at the SBIA with plans to provide full aviation services to transient aircraft and their crew for local and international flights. While ACI’s presence and its planned expansion as an “aircraft management center” can no doubt contribute revenue to Subic airport, people are unhappy at the thought of all the untapped potential and the slow progress that has kept the facility lying almost dead.

For starters, maybe officials should clear up the confusion as to who is really the SBMA administrator. The new man was supposed to be Rafael Reyes but he reportedly resigned even before he could actually assume office - and all this uncertainty is confusing - to the detriment of potential investors.

Spy tidbits

— We received information that a European consultant reportedly disliked by local officials is back and very much in business after being hired as team leader for a Provincial Road Management Facility project with a $100 million grant from a foreign funding agency. Sources said he was appointed on account of his close “personal” connections with some of the agency’s higher-ups, as well as his previous employment with an undersecretary-turned legislator who was once described as “the most corrupt UnderSecretary” in a government agency. Looks like the “seeds of money” between this foreign consultant and his so called powerful friends have been planted deep into his pocket.

— STAR business columnist Boo Chanco emailed us about the delay in his wife and mother-in-law’s Saturday flight to Honolulu on board Hawaiian Airlines because of the congestion at the NAIA. The HA plane was made to wait for an hour before it was allowed to take off, making it difficult at Honolulu where they had to catch the connecting flight in another terminal. “But at least with HA, the Los Angeles flight waited” - which was not the case for the poor passengers who needed to connect to another airline. According to Boo, his NAIA contacts told him we handle only 35 flights an hour while busier airports like New York’s La Guardia handles 70. What a set up!

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