Workers in areas which will have South Commuter Railway (SCR) stations will gain access to more than 300,000 jobs on average, according to a report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday.
According to the report titled, Accessibility Analysis of the SCR Project of the Philippines, this translates to an average increase of 15.3 percent in southern cities and 8.5 percent in Metro Manila.
The ADB said the job accessibility analysis shows a considerable discrepancy in the number of jobs accessible to commuters in different cities and”Šmunicipalities, which negatively correlates with the poverty level of the said areas.
Aside from reducing travel time and costs, it said large urban transport infrastructure projects can help fill gaps in the labor market by closing the distance between job seekers and job opportunities.
“Linked with the LRT (Light Rail Transit) and MRT (Metro Rail Transit) lines, the SCR will greatly enhance commuters’ access to jobs in 48 out of 64 catchment cities/municipalities,” the ADB report said.
“The improvement could lead to better labor market matching, higher income for workers and more job opportunities for low-income households,” it added.
The report said the areas within and outside of Metro Manila that make up the SCR catchment area currently differ considerablyin wages, job accessibility and other labor indicators.
“Poorer areas tend to have low access to more and better jobs,” ADB said.
“Most users of the urban rail service are from the higher income groups. Operated efficiently and priced optimally, the SCR service will encourage people across more income groups to shift to rail as their preferred form of transport,” it added.
The ADB said last month it is preparing funding support for the SCR project for consideration by the bank’s board of directors in the fourth quarter of the year.
The railway project is a key component of the 147-kilometer North-South Commuter Railway system. It will cut travel time from Clark International Airport to Calamba City from more than four hours to just 1.5 hours.
The entire railway system is expected to carry up to one million passengers daily. — Angela Celis
