MINDANAO Development Authority chair Abul Khayr Alonto said they are now pushing for simultaneous construction of the various segments of the proposed Mindanao Railway.

"We do not need phase by phase wherein it will be finished in 20 years, we are talking about phase by phase that will be done simultaneously," he said during yesterday’s press conference on the Mindanao Jobs Report at the Marco Polo Hotel Davao

He said they are moving around to solicit investments to make this possible and are hoping that this will be completed before the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte ends.

Minda Assistant Secretary Romeo Montenegro said the detailed engineering design for Segment 1 of the Railway or Davao-Digos-Tagum railway, a 100-kilometer stretch is ongoing and it is eyed to be finished by June. Construction is estimated to start late this year or early 2019.

Montenegro said that Alonto has already proposed to the Department of Transportation to also fund feasibility studies for the 11 other segments.

Aside from Segment 1, Dotr has only approved funding for the feasibility study for Segment 2, Tagum-Butuan segment.