Philippine Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade revealed on Tuesday that President Rodrigo Duterte and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plan to sign an agreement to construct the country’s first-ever subway.
The deal, set to be signed in November, will be worth more than US$4.5 billion, and plans are for construction to begin by as early as 2019.
The project is part of an ambitious infrastructure push by the Duterte administration, which will be supported, along with significant commitments from China, by a pledge of more than US$8 billion from Japan.