THE North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) project is attracting strong interest from several Japanese companies, according to an official of the Philippine National Railways (PNR).
The Department of Transportation (DoTr) and PNR are scheduled to hold a pre-bid conference for its project today (June 1).
PNR General Manager Junn B. Magno told BusinessWorld in a text message that they met yesterday with around seven to eight Japanese companies who are prospective bidders.
“They went to see the alignment, the station areas and where construction staging areas will be assigned to winning bidder,” he said.
In a separate statement, DoTr said representatives from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., Megawide Construction Corp., and the joint venture of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, BPI/MS Insurance Corp., attended the meeting.
The representatives checked the areas for the PNR stations, depots, and viaducts in Caloocan, Tutuban, Solis, and Valenzuela in Manila, as well as in Balagtas, Bocaue, Guiguinto, Malolos, Marilao, and Meycauayan in Bulacan.
The NSCR project, which is also called PNR North 1, is a 37.9-kilometer railway connecting Malolos, Bulacan to Tutuban, Manila.
DoTr opened the bidding of the civil works and building components of the NSCR project in mid-May. Two contract packages are available for prospective bidders: the first one for elevated structures, seven stations and a depot; and the second one for elevated structure and three stations.
The $2.88-billion project is funded through a portion of the loan agreement between the Department of Finance and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2015, which amounts to ¥241.991 billion.
“Because this is a JICA loan, primary contractors are usually Japanese. There were local partners of the Japanese contractors, I was told. Am sure they will use local subcontractors to deliver the work on time,” Mr. Magno noted.
Interested companies may buy the bidding documents for a non-refundable price of P50,000. Bidding will close on Aug. 16 for the two contracts.
The NSCR is expected to reduce travel time from Malolos to Tutuban to only 35 minutes from the current one hour and 30 minutes when it is completed. It is scheduled for opening in December 2021 and aims to service more than 300,000 every day.
The project is only one part of the government’s plan to connect the National Capital Region, Region 3 and Region 4-A. It also aims to construct PNR North 2, a line connecting Clark International Airport to the New Clark City, and PNR South Commuter to Los Baños, Laguna. — Denise A. Valdez
