Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines signed an agreement on technical cooperation to develop Greater Manila railway masterplan for the next 30 years.
The agreement was signed by the Philippines’ Transport Secretary Jaime J. Bautista, the Undersecretary for Railways at the Department of Transportation (DOTr) Cesar Chavez, DOTr Undersecretary Timothy John Batan and JICA Chief Representative Takema Sakamoto.
“Railway development in the Greater Capital Region [Metro Manila] would not involve only longer rail lines and more trains. The strategic framework of this development plan must include the comfort and safety of the passengers. Achieving this goal must involve strengthening DOTr’s institutional capacity through technology and knowledge transfer,” Transport Secretary said at the signing ceremony.
Within the next 36 months (three years), JICA should submit the strategy to the Department of Transportation (DOTr). “We can do it with our strong aspiration and full collaboration! Let me express my utmost confidence that this project will definitely be beneficial for DOTr and the Filipino people to improve both quality of life and business environment in this promising country,” JICA Chief Representative said.
In Metro Manila, the authorities are carrying out projects to shift road transport towards railways including the construction of its first underground metro network and the North-South Commuter Railway which are implemented with loans from JICA.
The institution says that “as the population is expected to increase and spread out over a wider area in the future, with significant increase in travel demand, a new rail master plan for the Greater Capital Region, including more of the surrounding provinces, is required.”
The Greater Manila railway masterplan will be implemented at an early stage until 2055 and aims at the development of the railway network in accordance with requirements, transport demand and climate change. The project will contribute to the sustainable economic development and climate change countermeasures of the Philippines, as well as to the achievement of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) Goals 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure) and 11 (Sustainable cities and communities).
In the Philippines, a transport roadmap for Mega Manila, which consists of the National Capital Region (NCR) and four surrounding provinces, was developed in 2014 with the cooperation of JICA.
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