The joint venture of Megawide Construction Corp. and Korean companies, Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. (Hyundai E&C) and Dong-ah Geological Engineering Company Ltd. (Dong-ah) bagged a P28 billion contract from the Department of Transportation to build the Malolos-Clark Railway Project (MCRP) Package 1.

The DOTr issued the notification of award to the joint venture of Megawide and Korean firms last September 18.

MCRP is part of the larger North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) project of the government. 

The consortium will undertake building and provision of civil engineering works for approximately 17 kilometers of viaduct structure, including elevated station buildings in Calumpit, Bulacan and Apalit, Pampanga. 

“Megawide, together with our world-renowned consortium partners in the field of engineering, Hyundai E&C and Dong-ah, is committed to deliver the highest standards of construction and engineering excellence for the MCRP. This will be another first-world infrastructure in the making,” Edgar Saavedra, chairman and chief executive of Megawide said. 

The project has an estimated cost of P28 billion – equivalent to more than half of Megawide’s current order book of P48 billion – and will boost the company’s construction segment revenue in the next 3 to 4 years during the development phase. 

In addition, considering that precast materials and construction ancillary services will be major components for these kinds of development, the project will also benefit Megawide’s technologically- advanced business units and support expansion plans in this area. 

“We are honored to be working with the Philippine Government on the MCRP. Not only will this project, once totally completed, spur growth in Central Luzon, it will also increase connectivity and unlock exciting commercial opportunities between Metro Manila and Clark,” Saavedra said. 

“This is also a strong testament to how public and private sector cooperation – foreign and local alike – can effectively propel the country towards a First-World Philippines,” he added.

The Malolos–Clark Railway Project, a part of the 163-kilometer North-South Commuter Railway Project, aims to ease road congestion in the capital and nearby provinces and reduce annual traffic-related economic costs which total $18 billion in Metro Manila alone.

It will help push economic activity to regional growth centers like Clark.

The project will cut the travel time between Clark and Manila from two to three hours by bus to one hour by train, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60,000 tons annually.

The civil works will help the Philippines’ economic revival as it will create about 24,000 local construction jobs in the next three years and 14,000 more jobs related to the railway system’s operation.

It will lead to larger, indirect employment and economic benefits to local businesses, such as suppliers of raw materials, which in turn will create more jobs.