The Asian Development Bank is embarking on its largest ever project to finance infrastructure by funding a key railway line in the Philippines.

It will provide $2.75bn (£2.1bn) to build a 33-mile (53.1 km) passenger railway connecting the Manila suburb of Malolos and the Clark economic zone in Central Luzon, according to www.publicfinanceinternational.org.

The Malolos–Clark railway project will ease chronic traffic jams, reduce air pollution, cut transport costs, and encourage a population shift from the country’s crowded capital to growing regions in the north.

“ADB’s partnership with the Philippines has always been strong, and it has become stronger in the last three years,” said Takehiko Nakao, ADB’s president.

“The government’s Build, Build, Build programme is clearly steering the much-needed acceleration in infrastructure spending, from less than two per cent of GDP a decade ago to 6.3 per cent now – well on track to achieve the seven per cent target by 2022.

“One of the key flagship projects of the BBB programme is the Malolos–Clark railway.”

The railway line forms part of the government’s north–south commuter railway initiative, which is expected to be completed by 2025.

This 163km suburban train network will stretch from New Clark City in Tarlac in the north to Calamba in the south of Manila.

The Malolos–Clark project is likely to cater for an expected 342,000 daily passengers, cutting the travel time from Manila to Clark International Airport to less than one hour, as well as up to 696,000 passengers travelling every day to Calamba.

“It will be ADB’s single largest infrastructure project financing ever, and from a development perspective, we are pleased this investment is taking place in ADB’s host country,” Nakao added.

“The project, combined with other investments in light rail transit, metro rail transit, and subway systems, will bring back the culture of rail transport in Metro Manila.”