ILOILO City – The revival of Panay Island’s railway system, which was among the 10 infrastructure flagship projects of the current administration identified by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, was not mentioned in the second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
During his first SONA in 2022, Marcos mentioned the revival of railway systems. But this year, of the government’s flagship projects, the President only mentioned one from Western Visayas – the Panay-Guimaras-Negros (PGN) Island Bridges Project.
“It is clear in my mind that railways offer great potential as they continue to be the cheapest way of transporting goods and passengers,” the President said in his first SONA.
Despite the non-mention in the President’s second SONAs, state-owned Panay Railways, Inc. (PRI) chief operations officer Cesar Capellan remains hopeful.
“Okay lang, waay kaso. Mayroon naman previous na pronouncement na priority sang administration ang railways,” Capellan told Panay News.
He had wished the railway revival to figure in the second SONA as it would help attract investors.
Now, Capellan said, he would wait for updates from the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
The agency initiated the process for conducting the bidding after taking out a loan of over $6 million to fund the feasibility studies of three railway projects outside the National Capital Region: The Panay Railway, the Bataan Railway and the North Long Haul Interregional Railway.
As of now, 12 project investors – from Turkey, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Japan, England, and China – have expressed interest.
Once a winning bidder is announced, a Swiss challenge follows.
A Swiss challenge is a form of public procurement that requires a public authority that has received an unsolicited bid for a public project or for services to be 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.
Ang Phase 1 includes civil works, locomotives, human resources, and relocations, among others.
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 where the current Iloilo City Hall stands. 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
