RP’s Northrail project could be world’s costliest railway – Drilon

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines will be having the world’s most expensive railway — about $25 million per kilometer — if the Arroyo administration pushes through with the construction of the controversial Northrail project. This is according to former senator Franklin Drilon who is urging President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to terminate the government’s deal with China National Machinery and Equipment Corp Group (CNMEG), the contractor for the proposed 32.2-kilometer railway from Caloocan City in Metro Manila to Malolos City in Bulacan province. “It will land in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s most expensive railway," said Drilon, during a media forum at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City on Saturday. He said Tibet’s electric railway system, which was harder to build because of the area’s mountainous landscape, would pale in comparison with the Philippines’ Northrail project. Drilon said Tibet only spent about $3.7 million per km for the construction of the complicated structure. According to the former senator, $299 million was added to the $503-million original contract price of Northrail, thus the cost per km of the project will be about $25.06 million or over P1 billion per km. He said the CNMEG wrote a letter asking the Philippine government for additional $299 million to cover the project's “cost overrun." “This work is not yet on the construction of the railways but just for engineering design. This is one of the anomalies in this contract because the project was awarded even without the specification," Drilon said. Drilon said the Arroyo administration had already spent P5.4 billion since the project was implemented, “but it still had nothing to show." “As a result, the government is paying P1 million in loan interest alone since September of 2004 or a total of P4.1 billion," he added. Reopen the probe Drilon urged senators to reopen their investigation into the Northrail project. He also asked former Speaker Jose de Venecia to appear in the probe and tell everything he knows about Northrail, including those about the $329.48-million national broadband network (NBN) project, which was awarded to China’s Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp. “Telling the truth will set you free," Drilon told De Venecia. The former senator said De Venecia was reluctant to appear before the Senate panel investigating the ZTE-NBN project because Malacañang would reportedly get back at the former Speaker by linking him to the alleged anomalies in the Northrail project. “De Venecia should not let his historic opportunity pass. He will serve as the conscience of the Arroyo administration, as he promised when he was ousted as Speaker, if he rectifies the mischief in the Northrail deal," Drilon said. Drilon said he was not against the railway project, but only wanted transparency in the government’s deal with the contractor. - GMANews.TV