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News Top Stories Chinese firm withdraws from NorthRail
News Top Stories Chinese firm withdraws from NorthRail
| Chinese firm withdraws from NorthRail |
| Thursday, 03 July 2008 08:46 | |||
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Pamintuan, the newly appointed president of the North Luzon Railways Corp. (NLRC), however, said China has not yet cancelled the $1-billion loan package to the 80-km railway system that stretches from Caloocan City to the Clark Freeport in Pampanga. Only Chinese The loan contract contains a provision that only Chinese contractors can be hired for the project, said Pamintuan, also concurrent chair of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development Council and Luzon Urban Beltway region. If China cancels the loan on account of CNMEC’s pullout, the Philippine government might seek refinancing from other sources to finish the mass transportation project by March 2010 and improve access to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark, Pamintuan said. The government is already paying for the loan although the project has yet to completely take off. Nestor Mangio, Clark International Airport Corp. chair, and Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali committed to help find fresh financing, Pamintuan said on Monday. Gradual pullout CNMEC first pulled out its technical staff, and later its surveyors. By March, it had demobilized its equipment on the site. Before NLRC president Arsenio Bartolome III resigned on June 1, NLRC officials were reportedly convincing CNMEC to “return to work.” NLRC executive vice president, Georgina Jota, declined to give details of the so-called disagreements until Pamintuan assumes office next week. Pamintuan said he plans to convene the board on Thursday to thresh out the issue. The NLRC is a subsidiary of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, the project proponent of the 94-km Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway. The NorthRail was conceptualized through a memorandum of agreement signed by former President Fidel Ramos and King Juan Carlos of Spain in 1994. The second phase, according to the project plans, extends to the Subic Bay Freeport in Bataan and Zambales. The third phase goes straight to the Bonifacio Global City in Makati City while the fourth phase will be linked to the Poro Point Special Economic Zone in La Union. Loans, loans The Investment Coordination Committee of the Cabinet approved $503.043 million as cost of Phase I. At least $395.224 million was taken from a $400-million loan from the Chinese government through the Export-Import Bank of China. The rest, $107.819 million, would be shouldered by the BCDA and NLRC. Meanwhile, the National Housing Authority has relocated more than 20 families in Metro Manila and Bulacan out of the old tracks of the Philippine National Railways, where the NorthRail was supposed to be built. At least 19,500 families on PNR tracks in Pampanga are also due for relocation. The University of the Philippines Law Center in 2005 pointed out “legal infirmities” in the contract.
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