A stalled infrastructure project backed by China is rarely a good thing. But the Philippines’ North Luzon railway could be one of the few exceptions – if it can be repurposed into a high-speed airport link.
The project originally was backed by a $900m Chinese loan and aimed to revive a commuter train service between Manila and a couple of provinces to the north. But seven years after the first tranche of the loan was signed in 2004 – it was at the time proclaimed as China’s single biggest aid project in South-east Asia – the trains are nowhere in sight. Less than a fifth of the physical works have been completed, and Manila’s new government has frozen the project since the middle of last year on worries it was too costly and badly designed.
However, the vast delay is giving the new government of President Benigno Aquino III an opportunity to reconfigure the railway project from commuter service with 11 stops into a high-speed train system similar to Hong Kong’s airport express. The new transport secretary, Manuel Roxas II, said that China’s leaders have agreed in principle with Manila’s proposal to redesign the project, and he will be flying to Beijing soon to thresh out the details.
More than just a way to save a soured project and preserve good ties with China, the reconfigured high-speed train system is also key to Manila’s long-term plans to finally move the congested airport in the middle of the metropolis to a better location outside the capital, according to Roxas.
Recently voted the world’s worst international airport, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, named after the country’s democracy hero and the president’s father, is operating beyond capacity. The 450-ha complex has no more room for expansion because it is surrounded by high-priced residential enclaves and commercial space.
The government has long considered moving the airport to a 2,500-ha aviation complex in a former US air force base but was dissuaded by the 78-km distance between the new facility and the capital. Road travel could take as much as a couple of hours or more. Roxas said the idea of moving Manila’s airport to the former US air force base in Pampanga province becomes feasible if it also builds a rapid train service that could cut travel time to less than an hour.
Manila’s plans for the new airport and the express train service all sound very good but the Philippine government must secure China’s blessing to get it going. A prolonged legal dispute with the Chinese state company building the North Luzon railway project could either delay the new project or make it more costly, said Roxas.
Philippine officials could say the proposed reconfiguration of the stalled railway project is a case of turning a problem into an opportunity. But only if China agrees.
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By: Roel Landingin
Source: Financial Times, Nov. 4, 2011
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