ILOILO – Is there any progress on the proposed revival of Panay Island’s railway system a year after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. announced it in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 25, 2022?
Last year, Ilonggos were elated by the presidential announcement.
“It is clear in my mind that railways offer great potential as they continue to be the cheapest way of transporting goods and passengers,” Marcos said in his first SONA.
According to Cesar Capellan, chief operations officer of the state-owned Panay Railways, Inc. (PRI), the President’s statement helped attract foreign investors.
As of now, 12 investors from Turkey, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Japan, England, and China have expressed interest, he told Panay News.
Capellan is hopeful that in his second SONA today, the President will again mention the proposed project to make it progress further, especially since the Panay railways revival is among the 194 high-impact infrastructure flagship projects (IFPs) of this administration.
The President, who chairs the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, greenlighted 194 projects worth P9 trillion.
“We are expecting more proponents for this project,” said Capellan.
He explained that as a sign of the Marcos administration’s sincerity in pushing the revival of railway systems, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) loaned over $6 million to fund the conduct of a feasibility study of three railway projects outside the National Capital Region: the Panay Railway, the Bataan Railway and the North Long Haul Interregional Railway.
Six bidders have shown interest to conduct the feasibility study for Panay railways, but there has yet to be an update on which bidder was awarded the contract.
“There are about six nga nag-participate, but until now I did not receive anything from the DOTr kon ano ang development sang ila bidding sa feasibility study,” added Capellan.
Once a winning bidder is announced, a Swiss challenge follows.
A Swiss challenge is a form of public procurement requiring a public authority that has received an unsolicited bid for a public project or for services provided to the government to publish the bid and invite third parties to match or better it.
There would be a memorandum of agreement and a thorough site inspection before the feasibility study could be forwarded to NEDA Region 6.
To recall, Capellan said the project would most likely be done through the public-private partnership (PPP) build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) scheme.
Under the BOT scheme, the investor will be given 25 to 50 years to operate the railways.
The contractor undertakes the construction and maintenance. It shall operate the facility over a fixed term during which it is allowed to charge facility users appropriate charges sufficient to enable the contractor to recover its investment plus a reasonable rate of return thereon.
Capellan estimated that some US$1.5 billion is needed for the project’s Phase 1, which covers the 117 kilometers of railway tracks from Iloilo City to Roxas City in Capiz province.
Phase 1 includes civil works, locomotives, human resources, and relocations, among others.
The Panay 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 City in Iloilo; and Dumarao, Dao, Panitan, Cuartero, and Loctugan in Capiz. It reached Roxas City.
Capellan said the revived railway system will have an expanded area of coverage. Phase 2 will see the construction of new railway routes from Roxas City to Kalibo, Aklan, going to Caticlan in Malay, Aklan.
Phase 3 will cover the new railway route from Caticlan, Malay, Aklan to San Jose, Antique; and Phase 4 will cover the new route from San Jose, Antique to Iloilo City via Iloilo province’s San Joaquin and Miag-ao towns.
The Panay railways started operating in 1907. In Iloilo City, its trains ended at the passenger terminal along the wharf next to the Customs House and near the current Iloilo City Hall. Trains ran across what is now the Drilon Bridge from La Paz and down the banks of the Iloilo River to Muelle Loney at the Port of Iloilo.
However, operations ceased in 1983 due to mounting losses./PN
