Finally, after more than two decades since it was proposed in the 1990’s, there have been high hopes for the long-delayed Mindanao Railway System (MRS) project.
The National Economic Development Agency (NEDA) that is said to have started their feasibility study for the Mindanao Rail Transit System last year, confirmed that there are eight firms who have shown interest in conducting the feasibility study for the MRS.
According to reports, two foreign firms that came from Japan and Indonesia expressed their interest in funding the P78 billion MRS project after the feasibility study was completed.
The firms’ name were withheld but it is believed that the Indonesian firm is the Salim Group of Indonesian billionaire Anthony Salim which already have stakes in businesses here in the Philippines including telecommunications. power, water, transportation, expressways and hospitals.
The said railway will strategically connect major cities in Mindanao. According to NEDA once the proposed project was implemented it “will play a major role towards improvement of Mindanao’s Intra island accessibility, linkages and seamless Multimodal transport networks.” with the hopes of boosting the regions’ economy.
As shown on the proposal below, the whole project cost P78 billion covering approximately 2,000 kilometers of railways which will be done in (6) phases.
Presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, is now reviving the MRS project along with Senator Alan Peter Cayetano who’s running for vice president, Cayetano said that if the national government could fund the construction of the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3), which costs P50-billion worth of taxpayer’s money, it could also do the same for “Mindanao’s long cherished dream of a railway system.”
The MRS is now subjected for NEDA’s approval. Meanwhile officials from Mindanao Development Authority (MDA) noted that the next President will play a big role in pushing the project, “It’s for the next President to decide and make it happen”.
Do you think MRS would be feasible and beneficial to the Mindanao’ans? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section. -John Esconde
Where’s Davao City – the largest city in the country in the propose phases? hahahaha
just look at the map, will yah?
It’s there in Phase6 but not specifically mentioned because it’s not the end station.
ito ung mga gusto ko comment haha… halatang wlang common sense haha…
yes, its good for mindanao but what about those terrorist and NPA will do during the construction and operation of that rail way?
Hire them to protect the project. Pera lang naman ang kailangan nila para mabuhay din sila.
tama ka pag may trabaho sila hindi naman sila magrerebelde
nababagot din naman ang mga yan kaya wala nang choice kundi gagawa ng masama. Actually sa Maquindanao dati ganyan ang mga tao mula noong may pumasok doon na planta ng saging natahimik ang lugar kasi lahat merong trabaho at may benepisyo ang mga nagtatrabaho…nakapag aral ang mga bata nila may kakainin pa sila…may benepisyo din sa pag retire nila so..hindi na kailangang mag alsa,
ang ambush???
curious as to the order of the cities in the phases. Why would CDO be the last phase and in the first or second one?
its in phase one. You wont reach gingoog without passing cdo 🙂
The cost is less than the cost of an LRT/MRT extension. How come leaders in Imperial Manila could not make this project happen in Mindanao long time ago.
It’s not feasible for as long as problems w Muslim rebels are not solved. It will be easy to sabotage,