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source : staff   
Thursday, 10 July 2008 04:53
ANGELES CITY – Edgardo Pamintuan, Subic-Clark Advisory Development Council (SCAD) chairman, ordered yesterday the North Railways Corp. (Northrail) to clear within 45 days the 34-kilometer tracks from Caloocan City to Clark Field to allow the Chinese contractor to start work immediately on a new railway.

In an interview with The STAR, Pamintuan said he found out during a recent inspection of project sites in Caloocan City, Malabon and Valenzuela City that Chinese National Machinery and Equipment Group Corp. (CNMEG) has not abandoned the project as he had earlier reported.

“The equipment are there, the fabrication plant is there,” he said.

Of some 180 Chinese personnel doing design and survey work on the project, only 20 have remained, he added.

Pamintuan said CNMEG would not buckle down to work unless the Northrail and the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) have cleared all problems in the railway that would link Metro Manila to the Clark Special Economic Zone.

“I think CNMEG is right in asserting that its contract for the project provides that the pathway be cleared thoroughly first,” he said.

Pamintuan said eight old railway bridges that were supposed to be demolished by Northrail to allow CNMEG to construct new ones have not yet been demolished.

“(When) I asked Northrail why they were not demolished, they said they needed explosives, and that they got P10 million which they turned over to the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), but the procurement process is taking time,” he said.

Pamintuan said of the 34-kilometer railway, only 22 kilometers had no problems, and the rest needed expropriation of properties initiated by the BCDA.

“I was told the BCDA could not start expropriations because the Northrail Corp. has not yet submitted its survey on the areas,” he said.

Pamintuan said Northrail has suggested that CNMEG start work in non-problematic areas, but this would be contrary to the contract, which does not allow piecemeal work on the project.

Despite these problems, Pamintuan hopes that CNMEG would start work on the project within 45 days.

Pamintuan said he is holding a series of meetings with Chinese officials and those of Northrail and the BCDA to iron out difficulties.
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