President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has cleared the way for the smooth implementation of the North Railway Project (North Rail) ahead of the arrival next month of Chinese engineers, heavy equipment and assorted materials to be used in the construction of the multi-million-dollar railway system, which will link Metro Manila and Northern Luzon.

The National Housing Authority (NHA) has already completed the relocation of 2,000 squatters along the 1.7-kilometer stretch of the North Rail line cutting across four densely populated barangays in Malabon City.

Cleared of squatters are the railroad tracks in Barangays Acacia, Tugatog, Tenejeros and Portrero, all in Malabon City.

NHA is a member of the inter-agency group overseeing the implementation of the project, a key component of the government’s program to decongest Metro Manila and accelerate the economic development of the Luzon countryside.

Malacaņang said the modernization of the railway system will make travel convenient to areas that will be served by the project, and movement of goods will also be enhanced.

North Rail would ease vehicular traffic along MacArthur Highway as commuters would have an alternative, faster and cheaper mode of transportation.

Aside from NHA, the other agencies behind the North Rail project are the Philippine National Railways (PNR), Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) and its subsidiary North Luzon Railways Corp., and Department of Transportation (DOTC),

Funding for the project comes from China, which extended a $400 million loan to the Philippine government for the railway system. The National Machinery and Equipment Corp., a Chinese government owned agency, represents Beijing in the project.

The President secured the loan during her working state visits to China.

With the relocation of the squatters along the Malabon railroad tracks, the President said NHA should now concentrate on clearing the seven km. Caloocan-Valenzuela PNR line to make sure that the implementation of the North Rail system is not delayed due to unresolved problems involving squatters.

She gave NHA until June to relocate the squatters along the Caloocan-Valenzuela PNR line.

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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has earmarked P2.1 billion for the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Support Project (SMEDSP) and P1.3 billion for the Small and Medium Finance Program (SMEFP).

SMEDSP and SMEFP were two of three foreign-funded projects approved for implementation by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board. The third is the Land Administration Management Project II (LAMP II).

The President is chairman of the NEDA Board.

The three projects, which fall under the general heading of agriculture, agrarian reform and natural resources, have a combined funding requirement of P5.7 billion.

The SMEDSP and SMEFP will secure funding and technical assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through the Small Business Guarantee and Finance Corporation and Small Business Corporation (SBGFC-SB Corp).

The SMEDSP is designed to enhance the financial and institutional capability of the Small Business Corp. to meet the increasing demand of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for credit and effectively manage risks associated with its lending operations, improve its services and extend its reach to a larger portion of the SME population.

The SMEFP, on the other hand, will strengthen the financial and technical capacity of selected viable SME banks or participating financial institutions to extend loans to SMEs, particularly medium-term loans, in a profitable and sustainable manner through the use of relending funds.

The loan component of the SMEDSP project will be in two tranches. The first tranche of $10 million will be made available for draw down upon approval by the ADB Board. It will be used for wholesale lending to SB Corp.-credited financial institutions to be selected based on track record, experience in SME lending and geographical reach.

The second tranche of $15 million will be for both wholesale ($10 million) and retail ($5 million) lending and will be released by ADB approximately 18 months after loan approval.

Funding for LAMP II was set at P2.2 billion. Composed of five components, LAMP II "aims to apply in selected provinces and municipalities the reforms and methodologies developed in LAMP I."

The project seeks to support the progressive expansion of land tenure security, and adopt the approved property valuation standards and procedures through sustainable partnership agreements.

LAMP II will also establish a $1.5 million innovations support fund under the grant component to encourage local government units (LGUs) to engage in land administration and management reform process, particularly in service integration at the LGU level.

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