CONGRESS should look at increasing the Department of Transportation’s (DoTr) budget to fast-track the implementation of its railway projects, a congressman said on Wednesday.
The Budget department slashed DoTr’s original budget proposal for flagship railway infrastructure such as the Metro Manila Subway Project to P39.4 billion from P92 billion and the North-South Commuter Railway System to P63.9 billion from P136 billion, according to a document from the Transportation department.
“I want the Department of Transportation to ask the Committee on Appropriations to increase our budget for the railway. That is the solution,” Iloilo Rep. Lorenz R. Defensor said during the department’s budget briefing at the House of Representatives, citing the need to hasten the construction of train infrastructure.
The Philippines has the shortest railway system among its regional neighbors, with only 228 kilometers (kms) of total track length, according to 2023 data from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
