Top firms drawn to P64.9-B LRT project

At least five groups are keen on the second auction for a tweaked version of the government’s P64.9-billion Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) Cavite extension project after the Transportation department on Tuesday issued an invitation to bid.

The groups are the Consunji family’s DMCI Holdings Inc., Metro Pacific Investments Corp. of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan, San Miguel Corp. and MTD-Samsung, a Malaysian-Korean group and the only foreign participant thus far.

Megawide Construction Corp., another active player in the government’s public-private partnership program, will purchase bid documents as well, Megawide chief marketing officer Louie Ferrer said Tuesday.

The LRT-1 deal will now be auctioned off under an expedited “single-stage” process, where qualification, technical and financial proposals will be submitted on April 28 next year, the bid invite from the Department of Transportation and Communications showed yesterday.

The railway deal, the largest under the Aquino administration’s PPP program, involves the construction of a mostly elevated 11.7-kilometer railway extension from Baclaran to Bacoor in Cavite. The winning bidder will then operate the entire LRT-1 system for a period of 32 years.

The LRT-1 extension aims to provide an affordable commuting alternative for about four million people living in Parañaque, Las Piñas and Cavite, the DOTC said. About half a million people use the existing LRT-1 system in Metro Manila daily, but that figure may increase by over 60 percent once the extension line is complete.

All the companies, apart from Megawide, had been prequalified for the first bidding round on Aug. 15. The first round was declared a failure when some of the prospective bidders withdrew or, in the case of Metro Pacific, submitted a non-complying offer, due to viability issues.