Biazon calls for another
inquiry on Northrail

SEN. Rodolfo Biazon on Friday pressed for another inquiry on the controversial Northrail project to find out why it costs 10 times more than the proposed Southrail project considering that the two rail projects have roughly the same specifications.

Biazon said Southrail would cost around $50 million to build while Northrail is pegged at $503 million.

"The major issue is how come the Southrail component costs only $50 million, longer by two kilometers than the Northrail, which is costing us $503 million," Biazon said. His committee on housing held a hearing Friday to check on the status of the Northrail project.

The Senate, constituting itself as the Committee of the Whole, had conducted an earlier probe on the Northrail project but was not able to finish it. Biazon said the new probe would also take a closer look at the relocation of some 97,000 families displaced by the two rail projects.

The displaced families have taken up residence alongside the railroad tracks as well as in the areas to be traversed by the rail projects.

Biazon said that so far, 46,000 of these families have been relocated by government, some in Tanza, Cavite. He said more families would actually be displaced and relocated because a bigger clearance is needed from the projected tracks. He said relocating them to the provinces would take them away from their jobs in Metro Manila.

The Northrail was conceptualized in 1994 during the term of President Fidel Ramos but it was during the term of President Arroyo when the project was firmed up with the signing of an executive agreement with the Peoples' Republic of China. Under the agreement, China National Machinery and Equipment Corp (CNMEG) was designated by the Chinese government to handle the design, supply and construction of Phase 1 of the project, and the Export Import Bank of China to take care of funding. Contracts and loan agreements have been finalized and signed and the construction had begun last month.