MANILA, Philippines - The Consunji
Group is contemplating a bid for the P60-billion contract to extend and manage
Line 1 of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system, a top company official said.
DMCI Holdings president Isidro
Consunji said the group is in talks with two other groups to jointly bid for
one of the biggest infrastructure projects under the government’s pump-priming
initiatives.
Consunji, however, refused to name the
two parties pending outcome of negotiations with them.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC)
and conglomerate Ayala Corp. earlier formed a partnership to jointly develop
light rail projects in the country.
Also, San Miguel Corp. announced in
Febuary that it was keen on bidding for contracts to expand LRT Lines 1 and 2
in line with its diversification into the infrastructure business.
The Consunji Group and MPIC are
partners in West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. Just last
month, San Miguel tapped DMCI Holdings to help build the Metro Rail Transit
System 7.
The Department of Transportation and
Communications opened on Monday the LRT Line 1 bidding to local and
international companies. The project aims to extend the 21-kilometer
Roosevelt-to-Baclaran line by 12 more kilometers to Cavite.
The existing line currently serves an
average of 488,00 passengers per day.
According to the DOTC, the bidder must
be able to provide the design, engineering, construction works as well as
completion of the extension of the existing LRT Line 1 until Cavite.
The DOTC said the bidder must be able
to replace the train fleet, and undertake the required rehabilitation works on
the railway infrastructure and systems over the life of the concession.
Interested parties were given until
Aug. 22 to secure bid documents from the DOTC.
The extension will involve the
construction of additional stations to the existing railway which are:
Redemptorist, Manila International Airport Road, Asia World, N. Aquino, Dr.
Santos, Manuyo Uno, Las Pinas, Zapote, Talaaba, and Niyog in Bacoor.
The contract to be bid out to the
private sector will cost P30 billion, which will involve construction works for
the extension of LRT Line 1.
The government will shell out P30
billion for the acquisition of electromechanical components such as train
tracks, power supply units and new coaches to accommodate the anticipated
increase in traffic. The money will be sourced through a loan from the Japan
International Cooperation Agency.
Given the huge population south of
Metro Manila commuting daily, it is expected that up to an additional 500,000
daily commuters will benefit from the project.
DOTC Secretary Manuel Roxas II earlier
said they expect the first phase of the project to be completed by late 2014,
and the second phase by late 2015.
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