Northrail project needs more funds - GMANews.tv

MANILA, Philippines - Citing change in project design, the North Luzon Railways Corp. has requested to increase the fund allocation for the Northrail Phase 1 project, which will run from Caloocan City to Malolos, Bulacan.

The NLRC has proposed to the Infrastructure Committee of the National Economic and Development Authority for an additional $280 million for the China-funded project from the original budget of $503 million.

The Infracom is in charge of advising the President on infrastructure development including railways, highways, and airports.

NEDA officials said the revision in Northrail's project design involved changing the narrow-gauge tracks which were initially approved by the NEDA Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) to sturdier standard or double-gauge tracks.

Rolando Tungpalan, NEDA deputy director general, said the cost increase proposal will undergo review by the Infracom and then go through ICC process starting with the ICC Technical Board until it gets approval from the NEDA Board, which is chaired by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

However, Tungpalan said that in line with the plans of the government to fasttrack all infrastructure projects and programs, the NEDA will also fasttrack its evaluation and approval of the NLRC's request for additional funding.

Of the original total amount of the project, the China Export Import Bank will finance $421 million of the total project cost while the remaining $82 million will be shouldered by the national government.

The contractor for the project is the China National Machinery and Equipment Group

The NLRC said that it aims to end 2008 with a project accomplishment rate of 61.87 percent, mostly comprised of Civil Works.

It is also seeking to get additional Right-of-Way (ROW) and relocate affected utilities by next month. The NLRC is targeting to complete the civil works for the project by August 2009.