The North-South Commuter Railway System (NSCR) has gained much traction from interested parties with various countries and private firms expressing interest in participating in the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the project.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has directed the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to seek assistance from other countries and experienced rail companies for the O&M of the NSCR System.
Transportation Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan noted the high turnout of participants during the fourth and final leg of the NSCR market sounding in Japan, which includes 28 Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo Metro, Sumitomo Corp., Alstom Japan, among others.
“We’re very happy to see the attendance in this fourth leg for our O&M roadshow. It only goes to show that we are on the right direction in terms of structuring and developing this O&M concession,” Usec. Batan said.
“Parties will only attend and continue participating if they see that it’s a good project being put out together,” he added.
The transport executive explained the DOTr will now consolidate the feedback from the roadshow participants and will be included in the bidding documents and concession agreement, which will be out by late September or early October.
“We will reflect those in our bidding documents, our concession agreement, so by the end of September of first week of October we will be able to officially launch and publish the tender for this O&M concession,” he said.
The NSCR System market sounding in Japan is the fourth of a series, which was previously held in Singapore, France and Manila.