Philippine National Railways.
The administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is actively pursuing
the rehabilitation of PNR through various investments and projects
designed to revive Philippine rail transport. However, the situation
is still hampered by numerous problems.
NORTHRAIL PROJECT:
Imagine uprooting 40,000 families — twice the entire population
of the municipality of San Juan, Metro Manila — and relocating them
elsewhere.
By any stretch of the imagination, this would be a logistical and
sociological nightmare. The financial cost alone would also be
staggering. This is exactly what is happening in the government
program to relocate those who will be displaced by the North Rail
Project. The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council
(HUDCC) estimates that the government needs to shell out at least
P6.6 billion in resettlement costs, but it is not clear where this
money is going to come from.
The Senate began last week hearings on the controversial North
Rail project, which envisions the rehabilitation of the north line
of the old Philippine National Railways (PNR). So far the hearings
have focused on the allegedly onerous and illegal provisions of the
North Rail contract, inked by the government with a Chinese company.
Little attention has been given to the fact that rebuilding and
extending the 80-kilometer railway, a project intended to spur
economic growth in Central and Northern Luzon, also means evicting
more than 200,000 poor people who live alongside the railroad tracks.
This would make it the biggest — and costliest — resettlement
project ever undertaken by the Philippine government.
Apart from financing difficulties, the North Rail relocation program
is beset by the same problems that have hounded government
relocation projects elsewhere: corruption, inefficiency, the lack
of a comprehensive relocation program, and a general disregard for
the views and the needs of the poor people who are facing eviction.
Read on here.
Source: Philippine Center For Investigative Journalism.
NORTHRAIL: AFTER P11 BILLION, WHERE'S THE RAILROAD?
MANILA, JULY 6, 2008 (STAR) By Jess Diaz - After the government
spent nearly P11 billion for the North Luzon railway, the next question
is: Where is the railroad?
“The government has advanced $150 million to the Chinese contractor.
At the present exchange rate, that is more than P6.8 billion. The
clearing of squatters along the railroad has cost taxpayers at least
P4 billion. In all, expenses have reached a staggering P10.8 billion,”
Harry Roque told reporters.
Roque said all that has been accomplished was the clearing of squatters
by a task force led by Vice President Noli de Castro, who chairs the
Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.
He said the Chinese firm contracted to do the project, China National
Machinery and Equipment Group (CNMEG), “has nothing to show for
the $150 million advanced to it.”
“Company officials are claiming that the bulk of the money has been
paid to corrupt Philippine officials in the form of bribes,” he said.