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Contractors of the North-South Commuter Railway project ordered by Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista to execute a catch-up plan after heavy rain and flooding disrupted construction of the NSCR’s northern segment
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A project general consultant’s representative says delays may last 10 days to two weeks
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The contractors are closely coordinating with local government units in areas along the rail projects while Sumitomo-Mitsui Construction Corp. mounts clean-up and relief operations
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista has ordered contractors of the North-South Commuter Railway project to implement a catch-up plan after heavy rainfall and flooding caused delays in the construction of the NSCR’s northern segment.
Bautista gave the directive in a meeting on August 7 with representatives from seven contractors and two general consultants for the NSCR Project who reported how heavy rains and floods affected ongoing civil works for the northern segment from Pampanga to Metro Manila.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said in a statement a representative of a general consultant of the project estimated that delays could last 10 days to two weeks.
Floods caused by rising water in nearby rivers due to relentless rain hit the ongoing construction of several rail stations. This time of year is rainy season in the Philippines and several typhoons and monsoon rains have brought continuous rains in the past weeks.
DOTr said project contractors are closely coordinating with several local government units in places where the rail projects are situated.
Clean-up efforts and relief operations were also carried out by Sumitomo-Mitsui Construction Corp., the contractor for Contract Package 02 of the NSCR, in coordination with local government units. DOTr noted this is beyond Sumitomo-Mitsui’s scope of work.
The 147.26-kilometer NSCR system aims to seamlessly connect Clark, Pampanga and Calamba, Laguna by linking Metro Manila to its neighboring provinces in just less than two hours of rail travel, compared with 4 to 4.5 hours currently.
NSCR will have 35 stations and will be serviced by 51 commuter train sets and seven express train sets.
The rail line is expected to provide two hours of end-to-end travel for more than 600,000 passengers daily when it becomes fully operational.
Various contract packages are currently in different stages of construction.
The project is co-financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and Asian Development Bank.
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