The Philippine government on Thursday, November 8, signed the much awaited Php18 billion loan deal with the Japanese government to rehabilitate the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3).
The loan comes as a part of the “exchange of notes” that happened between the governments of the Philippines and Japan.
This amount will cover different components of the rehabilitation including trains, power supply and signalling systems, and rail tracks, among others. The rehabilitation process of the rail tracks will last for more than two years, however, the completion of the whole rehab process will take nearly four years, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Aside from the funding for the MRT-3 rehabilitation, Japan also agreed to help the country in improving the equipment of the military.
Japan’s representative during the event, Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda, said: “With the signing of these two projects, let me assure you that we do not only mark our commitments on paper, we also pledge our all-out efforts in bringing these projects into successful completion.”
Newly appointed Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy “Boy” Locsin Jr., meanwhile, said that the deal will help improve government services in the country.
“With the MRT-3’s rehabilitation, we shall see improvements in service, efficiency, security, and convenience some of which the Japanese are the best,” he said.
