Conglomerates keen on LRT 1 Ext

MANILA, Philippines - Conglomerates led by the tandem of Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC) and Ayala Corp., SMC Infra Resources Inc. of diversified San Miguel Corp., and others are expected to battle it out for a P30-billion contract to extend the Light Rail Transit (LRT) 1 line from Baclaran to Bacoor in Cavite.

Transportation undersecretary Rene Limcaoco said in an interview with reporters that there is no final line up of the members of the consortia that were formed by the interested parties as the deadline for the submission of documents has been moved to Sept. 28.

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) pre-qualified close to 30 companies during a pre-bid conference held last July 10.

“Right now we don’t know who is going to bid and who is not. We don’t know until they submit their bids,” Limcaoco added.

Aside from the conglomerates, also present during the investors’ briefing and pre-qualification conference last July 10 were Ayala-controlled Makati Development Corp., FF Cruz, DM Consunji Inc. as well as Japanese-owned Marubeni, Sumitomo, Mitsubishi, Itochu as well as French transportation contractors RATP Dev and Systra Group as well as Ecorail and Leighton Contractors.

Also interested were Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd., SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan, FSG Capital Inc., EFC Enterprises, Jorgman Planning & Development Corp., RATP Development, Bechtel Overseas Corp., SERCO Group, Comm Builders & Technical Philippines Corp., Lenvoisa Construction Inc., APT Global Inc., Tranzen Group, and Cathay Energy Service Corp.,

Banks present during the conference were Ayala-controlled Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), BDO Universal Bank of retail magnate Henry Sy, PNB Capital of banking and beverage tycoon Lucio Tan, China Bank, and Dutch financial giant ING Bank, American-owned Citi, and the Macquarie Group of Companies.

 These companies are expected to join forces to form consortia to strengthen their bid for the multi-billion peso contract.

The Cavite Extension project would increase the span of LRT Line 1 from 20.7 kilometers to 32.4 kilometers and will have a new south endpoint in Niog, Bacoor, Cavite. The extension project includes eight stations (with provision for two future stations), 10.5 kilometers of viaduct, support beams, and 3 intermodal facilities.

Approximately 10.5 kilometers of the Cavite Extension System would be elevated and 1.2 kilometers would be at grade level. The government has set aside P30 billion to acquire up to 39 new Light Rail Vehicles for this project.

The extension would open up the Line 1 services to the nearly 4 million residents of Parañaque, Las Piñas, and the Province of Cavite.

The Manila Line 1 project would bid out the operations and maintenance of the existing LRT Line 1 system, the construction of the Line 1 Cavite Extension, and the O&M of both existing and extension as an integrated system.

The construction of the tracks, the stations and all its attendant facilities, as well as O&M, worth about P30 billion, would be bidded out. The other half of the P60-billion project, which includes the purchase of the coaches, would come from the government through official development assistance (ODA).