By Roderick T. dela Cruz
[ manilastandardtoday.com ] January 11, 2009
The Light Rail Transit Authority, operator of the LRT Line 1 system which is being extended from Monumento in Caloocan City to North Avenue in Quezon City, has awarded three more contracts worth more than P1.3 billion to various contractors.
Documents from the government-owned rail operator showed that the new contracts covered telecommunications, automated fare collection system, and track works of the P6.3-billion north extension project.
The whole project involves the construction of a 5.71-kilometer elevated line, including three new LRT stations (Balintawak, Roosevelt and North Avenue) that will connect Line 1 to Metro Rail Transit Line 3.
The consortium of D.M. Consunji and First Balfour earlier won the contract for Package A and Package A2 of the project with a combined cost of P2.8 billion and Package B worth P830 million.
The DMCI-First Balfour consortium has started excavation works and board piles at the project, which is due for completion by May 2010.
The LRTA yesterday said the new contracts included the telecommunication component of the electro-mechanical system of the project, which was awarded to Alcatel-Lucent Philippines.
The telecommunication component’s approved budget for the contract was P308.98 million.
Meanwhile, the automated fare collection system also under the electro-mechanical package was awarded to AP Trans. The contract has an approved budget of P328.61 million.
Daxi SA won the contract to provide electro-mechanical subsystem track works, which had an approved budget of P676.86 million.
Meanwhile, the LRTA said it was negotiating with two bidders—the DMCI-Beta-Siemens joint venture and Bombardier for the signaling component under electro-mechanical system. It had an approved budget of P329.58 million.