LRT-2 bidding postponed anew

MANILA, Philippines – The bidding for the operations and maintenance of the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) under the public-private partnership (PPP) program has been moved anew as the government still needs to secure approvals for the project. 

Camille Alcaraz, member-secretary of the pre-qualification, bids and awards committee and assistant secretary for procurement at the Department of Transportation and Communication,  said the submission date has been moved from  April 4 to a minimum of 10 days and a maximum of 30 days from the date when all final clearances and approvals have been obtained from the concerned government agencies.

The new bid submission date would be announced in a subsequent bulletin, she said.

Prior to the April 4 deadline, the DOTC had set the bid submission date for the project on March 8. 

The deadline for submission of offers for the project was moved then as some of the pre-qualified bidders requested for a change in the composition of consortium members and list of sub-contractors. 

Groups pre-qualified to bid for the project are Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. and SMRT Transport Solutions consortium,  D.M. Consunji Inc. and Tokyo Metro Co. Ltd. consortium,  Light Rail Manila Holdings 2 Inc. consortium composed of LRMH of Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), RATP Transdev Asia, and RATP Development SA, and San Miguel Holdings Corp. and Korea Railroad Corp. consortium. 

The LRT Line 2 Operation and Maintenance Project involves putting private sector efficiencies into the rail system which runs from Santolan station in Pasig City until Recto station in Manila, in order to provide a better service to passengers. 

Under a 10-15 year cooperation period for the project, the private partner will handle the operation and maintenance of the existing LRT Line 2, the 4.14 kilometer east extension, and any other future extensions implemented by the government.

PPP Center executive director Andre Palacios earlier said the government was hopeful the LRT 2 OMP project could still be awarded before the end of President Aquino’s term.

The government earlier awarded other PPP projects on railways.

Light Rail Manila Corp. consortium composed of MPIC’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd. bagged the LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension and Operation and Maintenance PPP deal. 

The Automatic Fare Collection System meanwhile, was won by AF Payments Inc., a consortium of MPIC and Ayala Corp. 

Other rail deals under the PPP scheme up for bidding are the North South Railway Project (South Line) and the LRT Line 6 Project. 

Launched in 2010, the PPP program is being implemented by the government to get the private sector involved in infrastructure development and to create more job opportunities.