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The Department of Transportation and China Railway Design Corp. on October 20 signed the project management consultant contract for the first phase of the Mindanao Railway Project
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The first phase covers the 100-km Tagum-Davao-Digos segment, which will connect Tagum City in Davao del Norte, Davao City, and Digos City in Davao del Sur
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The project will reduce travel time between Tagum and Digos to one hour from the usual three hours
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CRDC and its consortium partner will assist the MRP-Project Management Office in preparing and managing overall project implementation
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Partial operations are targeted for March 2022 and full operations on June 2023
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and China Railway Design Corp. (CRDC) on October 20 signed the project management consultant contract for the first phase of the Mindanao Railway Project (MRP), with “partial operability” targeted by March 2022.
The first phase, the 100-kilometer Tagum-Davao-Digos segment, will connect the city of Tagum in Davao del Norte, Davao City, and the city of Digos in Davao del Sur, and reduce travel time between Tagum and Digos to one hour from the usual three hours.
The segment will have eight stations in its alignment and is designed to accommodate 122,000 passengers daily. The stations will be in Tagum, Carmen, Panabo, Mudiang, Davao, Toril, Sta. Cruz, and Digos. It will have a depot in Tagum for heavy maintenance and a satellite depot in Davao City for live maintenance.
CDRC and its consortium partner, Guangzhou Wanan Construction Supervision Co. Ltd., were awarded the contract for project management consultant last August.
As project management consultant, the consortium will assist the MRP-Project Management Office in preparing and managing overall project implementation program, including land acquisition, coordination with concerned government offices, review of the project’s detailed design, preparation and submission of cost estimates for project budget approval, and supervision of construction, among others.
DOTr assistant secretary for Project Implementation-Mindanao cluster Eymard Eje said that as indicated in the project’s timeline, right-of-way acquisitions and clearing will be undertaken by the fourth quarter of 2021, while procurement will be from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022. Construction is slated to start in the second quarter of next year.
Partial operations are targeted for March 2022 and full operations will be in June 2023.
On the partial operations, DOTr assistant secretary for Communications and Commuter Affairs Goddes Hope Libiran explained that the transport department, in coordination with the Philippine National Railways (PNR), “is pushing to realize partial operability of a segment within Tagum to Carmen, to be able to undertake a test run of Mindanao Rail.”
She added: “Designed to be interoperable with other long-haul passenger and freight lines, including PNR Bicol and Subic-Clark Railway, Mindanao Rail is able to utilize trains designed for these other lines. DOTr is working with the Chinese Embassy to expedite ODA [official development assistance] procedures for Mindanao Rail, and is also working with Congress and the Senate to reinstate budget for Mindanao Rail for 2022.”
MRP is a 1,544-kilometer railway system connecting the cities of Davao, General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Cotabato, Zamboanga, Butuan, Surigao, and Malaybalay. The project’s construction will be financed by an ODA from China.
