Italian-Thai Development one of the winners of the Philippines Malolos–Clark railway scheme’s $1bn second phase
The Philippines’ Transportation Department has announced that the final three contracts for the $1bn second phase of the Malolos–Clark Railway have been awarded.
The winner of the N-01 package was a joint venture between Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Dong-ah Geological Engineering of Korea, together with the Megawide Construction of the Philippines. This JV will build 17km of elevated rail, seven cantilevered bridges and two stations, one to serve the towns of Malolos and Calumpit in Bulacan Province, and the second for the towns of Apalit and Minalin in Pampanga Province.
Package N-02, which covers 16km of elevated rail and one station in the towns of Minalin, Sto Tomas and San Fernando in Pampanga, was awarded to a joint venture between Spain’s Acciona and Korea’s Daelim Industrial.
Contract Package N-03, which covers 12km of elevated rail and a station building in the towns of San Fernando, Angeles, and Mabalacat in Pampanga, was awarded to the Italian-Thai Development Company, which is based in Bangkok, and which built that city’s metro system.
Timothy John Batan, the undersecretary for railways, said of the awards: “What we see here is the coming together of an impressive league of the biggest and the best players in the construction industry here and abroad, funded by the Asian Development Bank with its largest-ever financing package for a single project, to build the single largest project in the Philippine government’s history.”
Junn Magno, general manager of the Philippines National Railway, which is developing the scheme, added that he was hopeful that the project could be completed before the end of President Duterte’s first term. The railway is part of the Duterte’s flagship “Build, Build, Build” initiative to modernise the archipelago’s infrastructure.
The Malolos–Clark Railway is central to that programme of work. When complete it will link Clark International Airport and the planned economic zone of New Clark City, around 80km northwest of the capital, to the city of Malolos.
The Malolos–Clark Railway is part of the planned $6.1bn, 163km North-South Commuter Railway project that will continue southeast from Malolos, through Manila to Calamba by 2025.This will cut the travel time between Clark and Manila from two to three hours by bus to one hour by train, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60,000 tonnes annually, said the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is co-funding the project with Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Source: https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/news/philippines-announces-winners-clark-railway-scheme/
