DoTr to issue NSCR bid soon amid interest from 28 Japanese firms

The Philippines is doubling its efforts to find the operator for the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR), the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said, as it hopes to issue bidding documents later this month or early October.

This came after the DoTr concluded the final leg of its roadshow for the NSCR project which gained the interest of foreign companies, mainly from Japan.

“We’re very happy to see the attendance in this fourth leg for our O&M (operations and maintenance) roadshow. It only goes to show that we are in the right direction in terms of structuring and developing this O&M concession,” Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John R. Batan said in a statement on Thursday.

He said there was a high turnout of participants during the final leg of the NSCR market sounding event in Japan.

Mr. Batan said around 28 Japanese companies including Mitsubishi Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo Metro, Sumitomo Corp.; and Alstom Japan have signified their interest in the O&M for NSCR.

The DoTr has been ramping up its roadshows to promote the PHP 229.32-billion O&M contract for the NSCR project. It had conducted similar events in Singapore and Paris, France.

The agency will now consolidate comments from roadshow participants which will be included in the bidding document and concession agreement to be issued within this month or next month, Mr. Batan said.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Director for Office of Markets Development and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Siddhartha Bhaskar Shah said the ADB and the DoTr expect to award the concession by March or April 2026.

“The immediate next step to look forward to is the launching of the bid documents which we intend to do by the end of this month and will kick off the formal bidding process which will continue over the next six months with the idea that the bid will be awarded sometime in the March-April time frame,” he said.

The ADB is the technical advisory services provider of the DoTr for the NSCR project.

“We will reflect those in our bidding documents, our concession agreement, so by the end of September of the first week of October we will be able to officially launch and publish the tender for this O&M concession,” Mr. Batan said.

Nigel Paul C. Villarete, a senior adviser on public-private partnerships at the technical advisory group Libra Konsult, Inc., said public-private partnerships for O&M projects are more attractive compared to build-operate-transfer (BOT) types of projects.

“I am not particularly sure if roadshows can help a lot, but these are more advertising efforts. Even without those (roadshows), we’ll get the full array of prospective PPP operators from all over,” Mr. Villarete said in a Viber message.

“The more important thing is that the agency properly drafts the proposed PPP contracts that strikes a balance between sufficient protection for the country’s economic interests and high expected returns to draw the interests of private sector capital,” he added.

The 147-kilometer NSCR will connect Malolos, Bulacan with Clark International Airport, and Tutuban, Manila with Calamba, Laguna. The PHP 873-billion project is co-financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Asian Development Bank. It will have 35 stations and three depots.

According to the DoTr, the NSCR can partially operate its Valenzuela to Malolos line by 2027; while the Malolos to Clark segment can start operations by 2028. — Ashley Erika O. Jose