THE Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (PamCham) on Wednesday, February 13, disclosed that the group wants to help the Department of Transportation (DOTr) prepare stakeholders on the possible impact of the government’s ongoing north and south railways.
During a meeting at Carworld Pampanga here, PamCham president Rene Romero said that they are willing to host the DOTr headed by Secretary Art Tugade to discuss concerns of stakeholders regarding the rail system that would connect North Luzon to Metro Manila.
"Our intention is to help the DOTr prepare the public so that the north and south railway project of the government will be accepted. We are really inviting DOTr so that we could help them. In fact, we really support this project. But we also want to further explain to stakeholders particularly the business sector the details of the project. We want to further know about the impact of the railway system of the government to the public," Romero said.
There are some major concerns, he said, that need to be addressed by DOTr.
“The thing is, we're guessing. Is it an elevated railway? Is it on the ground level? Whether we like it or not, if the project goes through the City of San Fernando, there would be a lot of properties that would be affected. People whose properties that would be affected are asking us at PamCham. They think that we have information or a notice on the project. We don't have any answers to that," Romero said.
"People don't know what's happening about the railway project. What if your property is near the railway? You'll be disturbed because of the railway's noise and its hazard. But what if it's already being constructed, the people would go up against it. Why won't we fully prepare them? We want to help the government, especially the DOTr, gain stakeholders’ acceptance on this," he added.