Multibillion railway project to fast track Mindanao growth

A multibillion-peso Mindanao railway project is expected to fast-  track development of President Duterte’s home region.

Senate President Aquilino L. Pimentel III proposed on Monday the creation of the Mindanao Railways Corp. (MRC), which he envisions to “hasten the development of the entire island.”

To pursue the railway project, Pimentel filed Senate Bill 112 to  create the MRC, citing the collective experience of Japan, Canada, the United States and most of Europe, where, he noted, railroad networks spurred and sped up their  national development.

Pimentel pointed out that these nations railroads “opened up vast land areas for human settlement and made it possible to transport tremendous number of people and huge volume of goods at the lowest cost.”

He also noted that the “influx of people into areas previously unsettled, the easy mobility of the populace, and the availability of goods and services needed for civilized life means higher productivity of the land and its people.”

According to Pimentel, the proposed railroad network crisscrossing Mindanao would considerably shorten travel time between Zamboanga and his home city in Cagayan de Oro or Davao and Cagayan de Oro.

“That will, in turn, mean a reduction of the travel cost for the people and for the transportation cost of goods whose end destination is the Visayas or Luzon, or beyond our northern shores, or vice versa,” he added. The Senate President asserted the Philippines must benefit from the experience of other countries whose railway systems until today provide people and goods the cheapest and fastest way of mass-transit movement.

Under Pimentel’s proposal, the MRC would have a  corporate existence of 50 years, with  an authorized capital of P100 billion, divided into P500 million common shares with par value of P200, fully subscribed by the national government.

He added the initial paid-up capital of the MRC will be set at P20 billion with the balance provided under a continuing annual appropriation of not less than P2 billion from the national treasury.

“Being a factor for socioeconomic development and growth,” Pimentel said the MRC, which is proposed to be headquartered in Cagayan de Oro, would be “part of the infrastructure program of the government, and would remain under government control during its existence.”

The Senate leader added: “It would be administered with the view of serving public interests at optimum service, and while aiming at its greatest utility by the public, the utmost viability of its operation must also be protected.”

He said this is intended to “ensure that services are rendered at the minimum passenger and freight prices possible.”

Pimentel’s bill provides that the MRC, envisioned as an attached agency of the Department of Transportation, would be exempted from payment of all taxes.

source:  Business Mirror