‘Informal’ talks ongoing with ADB after loss of China railway funding

THE PHILIPPINES is in “informal” talks with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to seek support for the P14.38-billion South Long Haul rail project, after Chinese loans failed to materialize, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.

“We are now informally discussing with the Asian Development Bank whether they will be able to glide into the project to ensure continuing effort here,” NEDA Assistant Secretary Jonathan L. Uy told a congressional oversight hearing looking into the status of projects funded by official development assistance (ODA) on Tuesday.

“We really need to start working on the implementation phase and we are hoping that ADB will provide us technical support to leapfrog the project from detailed engineering directly to bidding out both design and building.”

NEDA has also asked the Department of Transportation (DoTr) for updates on whether the detailed engineering phase of the project can be fast-tracked.

The South Long Haul railway project consists of a 639-kilometer rail line connecting Metro Manila to southeastern Luzon. The project was given P3 billion in funding from this year’s national budget.

“DoTr has indicated that they are not going to push through with Chinese ODA for the next stage and that’s why we are looking at ADB as sliding in whether it will be an ADB investment loan or technical assistance for a design-build implementation,” Mr. Uy said.

Transport Secretary Jamie J. Bautista has said that the government might tap ODA from Japan, South Korea, or India to fund the railway after the Philippines withdrew its request for assistance from China, citing lack of progress on the financing decision.

He has said the government expects to finish South Long Haul, the Mindanao Railway and the Subic-Clark Railway by 2028.

Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto said last month that NEDA is looking into implementing the Mindanao Railway project as a public-private partnership.

In February 2022, the previous administration awarded to China Railway Design Corp. a contract to construct the PNR project. State-owned Export-Import Bank of China has not confirmed whether it will approve the loan request. —