P28 Billion Malolos-Clark Railway Project Awarded to Megawide and Korean Company Joint Venture

It’s part of the DOT’’s North-South Commuter Railway project.
Esquire By: PAUL JOHN CAÑA   |   Sep 21, 2020

The contract for the Malolos-Clark Railway Project (MCRP) Package 1 has been awarded to a joint venture between Megawide Construction Corporation and Korean companies, Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. (Hyundai E&C) and Dong-ah Geological Engineering Company Ltd. (Dong-ah).

Megawide said the notification of award for the MCRP was issued last Friday, September 18.

The MCRP is part of the Department of Transportation (DOTr)’s North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) project.

With an estimated cost of P28 billion, the project itself involves 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,” said Edgar Saavedra, chairman, and CEO of Megawide. “This will be another first-world infrastructure in the making.”

The first phase of the NSCR, which broke ground in February 2019, is the 37.6-kilometer Tutuban to Malolos leg of the North-South Commuter Railway, which will run a total of 13 train sets that has eight wagons each. This will be linked to the MCRP and will also be seamlessly integrated into one railway system with the PNR Calamba.

The project’s estimated cost of P28 billion is more than half of Megawide’s current order book of P48 billion and is expected to boost the company’s construction segment revenue in the next three to four years during the development phase.

“At a time when the property market is softening and private sector developers are recalibrating expansion plans due to the COVID-19 crisis, public infrastructure projects, like the MCRP, are critical in jumpstarting the economy,” Megawide said in its disclosure to the PSE. “Infrastructure spending is believed to have a very high multiplier effect on the economy and the government’s direction to push this segment is very much welcome.”

Listed Megawide Construction Corp. (MCC) reported a net loss of P398 million during the first half of 2020, the first time it has recorded negative earnings in its corporate history.

However, in July, the company said it received original proponent status (OPS) for its $3 billion proposal to rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.