LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, June 18 (PNA) — If things go according to plan, commuters will be zipping through rush hour traffic between this capital town and Baguio City by late next year or early 2017.
This was revealed yesterday, June 17, by Department of Science and Technology-Cordillera (DOST-CAR) Director Julius Caesar Sicat who said that the feasibility study for the monorail system is about done and the construction phase could start late this year.
“The NDC (National Development Company) is now looking for an investor to the project and we are looking forward to a faster way of traveling from Baguio to La Trinidad,” Sicat said.
The NDC is an attached agency to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) managing over PHP4.5 billion worth of government investment portfolios and functions as the government’s investment arm.
The NDC will also handle the government’s counterpart with the private partner in the construction, maintenance and management of this monorail project.
The project seeks to construct a six-kilometer rail system between La Trinidad and Baguio City to help ease traffic on the Halsema Highway to Magsaysay Avenue artery which is one of the vehicular bottlenecks between the two areas.
Thousands of vehicles regularly pass through the road everyday – from ferry commuters to trucks carrying vegetables to Baguio and other markets in the lowlands.
“The railway system will not only help ease traffic woes, but more importantly, it will help reduce vehicular emissions because it will run on electricity,” Sicat added.
He explained that the rail system will be built above the Balili River so as not to further constrict the national highway with system’s posts.
It will approximately be six kilometers long from the foot of the Capitol steps to the Slaughterhouse Compound in Baguio City, he added.
“It is estimated to cost PHP1.4 billion to build and will have a station after every kilometer for the convenience of commuters,” Sicat added.
There will be six sets of trains which can ferry 200 passengers each, he said. (PNA)