Philippines, Japan sign addt’l ¥253-B loan package for Metro Manila Subway

The governments of the Philippines and Japan have signed the second tranche of financing package for the country’s first underground railway system —the Metro Manila Subway project.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and Japan Ambassador to the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko signed on July 27 the exchange of notes for the official development assistance (ODA) loan package of ¥253-billion or about P116-billion to finance the project’s construction, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said in a statement on Wednesday.

The second tranche of financing follows the first tranche amounting to ¥104.530 billion signed in 2018.

The latest financing package carries an interest rate of 0.10% per annum, is 40 years to pay, and has a 13-year grace period.

With the project’s financing in place, the construction of the subway line’s first segment is already ongoing with two out of 25 tunnel boring machines already in Manila, according to the DOTr.

The Transportation department added that the line’s trains are also in ongoing manufacturing, and with all contracts to be awarded before the end of the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Philippines’ first subway rail system forms part of the Duterte administration’s “Build Build Build” flagship infrastructure program. It will stretch 33 kilometers and will have 17 stations.

The project aims to cut travel time from North Avenue in Quezon City to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) from one hour and 10 minutes to just 35 minutes.

It will traverse the cities of Valenzuela, Quezon City, Pasig, Makati, Taguig, Parañaque, and Pasay.

The line will have an initial capacity of up to one million passengers per day, the DOTr said.

“The Metro Manila Subway will be a shining monument, better yet a state of the art working system attesting to the deep friendship between the Philippines and Japan. Japan holds a pre-eminent role in our government’s infrastructure development agenda, which is a priority of President Duterte’s administration,” Locsin said.

“This year marks the 65th Anniversary of the normalization of Diplomatic Relations and 10th Anniversary of Strategic Partnership between Japan and the Philippines. This signing will deepen and strengthen the cooperation and partnership of both countries, and I am happy to sign this Exchange of Notes today,” Koshikawa said.—AOL, GMA News