Japan to fund $ 2.4 billion railway for congested Manila

Japan on Friday announced it is pouring $2.4 billion into a new railway aimed at easing Manila’s notorious gridlock. Japan, the Philippines’ top trading partner and source of aid, said the 38-kilometer (24-mile) elevated commuter line would connect Manila to nearby Bulacan province to decongest the capital and help spur economic activity. (Image: Wikimedia Commons/Ramir Borja) “This is one of the biggest projects Japan has ever embarked upon using the yen loan,” Masato Ohtaka, deputy press secretary for Japan’s foreign ministry, told reporters in Manila. “Railways are one of our fortes. … We sympathize with the Filipinos that this is a project that needs to be done very, very quickly.” Ohtaka said Japan is also open to building a railway in the southern region of Mindanao, a project that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had previously said China had offered to fund. The Philippines has sought to strengthen ties with its...