ILOILO City – Will the proposed Integrated Panay Railway System be finally realized?
Republic Act (RA) No. 11659 or the New Public Service Act may just make it possible.
The newly-minted law now allows 100 percent foreign ownership of public service utilities such as telecommunications, railways, expressways, airports, and shipping.
State-owned Panay RailwayS, Inc. (PRI) chief operations officer Cesar Capellan welcomed the new law as “very good news” for the proposed revival of the defunct railway system in Panay Island.
Just last month a company from England, Global Wealth Centres, expressed interest in the railway revival.
Among the other companies that signified interest much earlier were the Philtrak consortium (a local company), China Railway International, and Anametrics Holding Limited from Marshall Islands.
Capellan said Philtrak was proposing a modern public transport system using the electric road train (ERT) technology developed by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
This is 50-percent cheaper compared to the transport system that the Chinese company proposed, he added.
With the New Public Service Act, Capellan said that they are expecting more proposals.
The revival of the Panay railway system will be good for the region’s economy, he stressed.
“There will be more jobs, infrastructures…so many good things will happen,” said Capellan.
A revived railway system will complement the mega Panay-Guimaras-Negros bridges project, he added.
In his first State of the Nation Address in July 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte said he was eyeing the revival of Panay Island’s railway system.
Capellan said the incoming Marcos administration may explore public-private partnership (PPP) or build-operate-transfer (BOT) schemes for the railway revival.
According to Atty. Averill J. Amor, PRI office-in-charge / chief executive officer, interested investors or developers may submit proposals subject to a Swiss challenge, and-or through other mutually acceptable forms of project implementation.
A Swiss challenge is a form of public procurement which requires a public authority which has received an unsolicited bid for a public project, or for services to be provided to government, to publish the bid and invite third parties to match or better it.
The railway’s original route was 117 kilometers long and included 19 permanent and 10 flag stations. It connected the then towns of La Paz and Jaro (now districts of Iloilo City), Pavia, Santa Barbara, New Lucena, Pototan, Dingle, Dueñas, and Passi in Iloilo, and Dumarao, Dao, Panitan, Cuartero, and Loctugan in Capiz. It reached Roxas City.
In Iloilo City, the trains ended at the passenger terminal along the wharf next to the Customs House and near where the current Iloilo City Hall stands. Trains ran across what is now the Drilon Bridge from La Paz and down the bank of the Iloilo River to Muelle Loney at the Port of Iloilo.
In 1980s, a 12-kilometer spur was constructed from Dueñas to Calinog, Iloilo to serve a sugar refinery in Iloilo. Operations ceased in 1983 due to mounting losses.
PROJECT BRIEF
Called the Integrated Panay Railway System, Phase I of the project is from lloilo City to Roxas City, Capiz and Phase II will be from Roxas City, Capiz to Caticlan, Aklan.
For Phase 1, the existing length of track or right of way from Iloilo City to Roxas City, Capiz, involves 117.36 kilometers.
There are four Main Stations and 12 Secondary Stations with nine Flag Stations.
Aside from the rehabilitation of the railway system, there are other related project components for commercial/residential development projects and a power or energy facility.
The estimated project cost for Phase I is US$4 billion, inclusive of costs for commercial and residential condominium buildings or similar infrastructure projects. But this project cost should be re-computed at the current cost of development and/or rehabilitation.
The width of the existing railway alignment is 30 meters with the length of 117.36 kilometers with one Long Distance Bridge and 44 Short Distance Bridges.
With the intended main stations in La Paz, Iloilo City, and Santa Barbara, Iloilo, the railway system will require a monorail system within Iloilo City to Pavia town and Santa Barbara in Iloilo province, with spur lines, also by monorail system to the Iloilo International Port (6.4 kilometers) and or Dumangas, Iloilo seaport Area (eight kilometers), and the Iloilo Airport (4.5 kilometers).
The present stations and railway track or right of way within Iloilo City, involving an area of more than two hectares, will no longer be utilized for the new railway system.
Said area may be developed as sites for commercial and residential condominium buildings or similar infrastructure projects.
There is a need to formulate a final study/proposal for Phase I of the Integrated Panay Railways System.
For the Phase II, there is no existing track or right of way from Roxas City, Capiz, to Caticlan, Aklan. The right of way has to be purchased or expropriated. This will involve 141.00 kilometers.
The proposal for Phase II involves three Main Stations and 14 14 Secondary Stations with 10 Flag Stations./PN
