MINDANAO RAILWAY EYED TO START ON FEB 2019

The government has now started with the land acquisitions for the railway project

The construction of the Mindanao Railway Project is targeted to begin on February 2019 with the completion of the Environmental Compliance Certificate or ECC.

“Tuloy na tuloy (It’s a go). We are starting with our land acquisition for the railway system,” said Mindanao Railway System deputy project manager Patmei Ruivivar during her recent guesting at the Kapihan sa PIA media forum.

She added that local government unit partners said that land acquisitions would take two months based on their experience.

“If everything is in order, there’s a title and there are no absentee landowners it could be two months.”

Ruivivar says they need a minimum of one hectare per train station and the alignment about 40 meters for the dual train tracks.

“Based on the suggestion of LGUs maybe we can go beyond the one hectare per station that would be intended for future development,” Ruivivar said.

For land acquisitions the LGUs will lead in the identification and negotiation of the lots, according to Ruivivar.

She says the acquisitions will be mostly through donations or negotiated sales. “We hope, that we won’t have to expropriate lands,” Ruivivar said.

She adds the properties acquired will be based on fair market value and just compensation.

Ruivivar said they are expecting the railway to be operational by 2021. The 102 kilometer Tagum-Davao-Digos (TDD) segment will have eight train stations. The train depot will be located in Tagum City. /

“Tuloy na tuloy (It’s a go). We are starting with our land acquisition for the railway system. ” Patmei Ruivivar Mindanao Railway System deputy project manager