Rail network projects expected to create jobs

MANILA, Philippines — More jobs are expected to be generated as the expansion of the country’s rail network goes full steam ahead, according to the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

Despite the disruptions brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 pandemic, the DOTr  is looking to accelerate within the next two years its ambitious railway expansion plan.

Transportation Undersecretary for railways Timothy John Batan said in an online presentation  a total of 31,587 direct jobs and 2.059 million induced and indirect jobs are expected to be created this year up to 2022 by the construction of the  railway network.

From 2016 to 2019 or during the first half of the Duterte administration, he said some 12,000 direct jobs and 430,000 induced and indirect jobs have been generated by the DOTr ‘s rail projects.

Overall, the DOTr estimates that a total of 43,472 direct jobs and 2.48 million induced and indirect jobs will be generated by the government’s various rail projects.

“As an economic driver, we know that we have a lot of work in making sure that we bounce back from the economic effects of the COVID-19 situation and currently we are in a very good position to contribute to the capital formation in the next few years because of our projects,” Batan said.

“In decongesting our highly congested metropolitan center, the network that we are building is hopefully going to contribute to better manage and lessen the risk of future pandemics that the country and world will be facing,” he said.

Under the DOTr’s railway expansion plan, which includes building new rails and rehabilitating existing ones, the country’s rail network is targeted to grow to 1,144 kilometers (kms) by 2022 from 77 kms in 2016, with the number of trains rising to 1,425 from 221.

The number of train stations will likewise increase to 169 by 2022 from 59 in 2016.

With the expansion, daily ridership is expected to more than triple to 3.26 million from 1.02 million in 2016.

Among the major rail projects include the LRT-1 Cavite extension, LRT-2 East and West extension, MRT-3 rehabilitation, MRT-7, Metro Manila subway, Subic-Clark Railway, PNR Clark, PNR Bicol and Mindanao railway.

“Our strategy is to expand our network to give access to other places not only Metro Manila but also Central Luzon and Region 4A to facilitate the decongestion of people,” Batan said.

Batan said all these projects have secured financing commitments, mostly from official development assistance lenders such as Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).