LRT-1 Extension seen operational by late next year

MANILA, Philippines — The extension of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) to Cavite is likely to be operational late next year, with the government nearing full delivery of the right-of-way for the project’s partial operatibility section. 

Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) president and CEO Juan Alfonso said the project’s completion rate is now at 33 percent, with over 90 percent of the right-of-way already cleared.

“The progress is going well and so far construction flow is doing good,” Alfonso said in an interview yesterday.

“For the right-of-way, it is almost complete. There are just issues being addressed on some of the stations, but I think we have solutions there,” he said.

Alfonso said the first two or three of the 30 train sets from Spain for the P65.1-billion project will arrive by the third quarter.

Groundbreaking of the LRT-1 Cavite extension project was held in May 2017, but actual construction took two years to start mostly due to issues in resolving the right-of-way acquisition.

Actual construction works officially commencenced in May last year.

Given ongoing developments, Alfonso said LRMC is confident it can deliver the partial operatibility segment of the project by next year.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) expects the partial operability section from Baclaran to Dr. Santos to be completed by December 2021.

“The DOTr is pushing us to finish as early as possible, so I think it is doable based on the timelines. They requested to finish by next year. We are coordinating with them, and we’re working with them so that we can deliver it by next year,” Alfonso said.

As the private operator of LRT-1, LRMC earlier received a commendation from the DOTr for the progress of the ongoing construction of the LRT-1 Cavite Extension.

The 11.7-kilometer project aims to cut travel time between Baclaran and Bacoor from 70 minutes to just 25 minutes.

From Baclaran, eight more stations – Redemptorist, MIA, Asiaworld, Ninoy Aquino, Dr. Santos, Las Piñas, Zapote, and Niog – will be added which will increase the total number of LRT-1 stations from 20 to 28.

Phase 1 will cover seven kilometers, including the Redemptorist Station, MIA Station, Asiaworld Station, Ninoy Aquino Station, and Dr. Santos Station.

Alfonso, however, said completion of the entire extension project would depend on how soon the right-of-way will be delivered.

At present, the DOTr is targeting the entire LRT-1 Cavite Extension to be finished by the third quarter of 2023.

Once fully operational, the entire line of LRT-1 is expected to accommodate 800,000 passengers daily, nearly double its current average ridership of 480,000 to 500,000 passengers daily.

LRMC is a consortium composed of Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd.