LRT contract bidding moved
The Light Rail Transit Authority has deferred the bidding for the P423-million contract to maintain the Light Rail Transit Line 1 for a year, saying more time was needed to review bidding documents.
A July 15 bid bulletin from the LRTA showed that the new bid submission and opening date will be on Sept. 12, from August 13.
It added that the pre-bid conference was set on Aug. 22, from July 16, previously.
LRTA said more time was needed “to enable and afford newly designated members of the bids and awards committee-rail the necessary time to evaluate and study all bidding documents.”
LRTA said the one-year contract was for the LRT-1—a 20.7-kilometer elevated railway that serves about half a million people daily.
Maintenance work on the railway, one of the oldest in the country, was part of the recent LRT-1 public private partnership deal, which would likely be awarded to the consortium of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp., the sole bidder.
Based on the notice, the auction will be conducted through open and competitive bidding process using so-called non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion. These are specified in the revised implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 9184.
Filipino citizens, sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least 60 percent of its outstanding capital stock owned by Filipinos are the only ones allowed to bid for the contract.
LRT-1 is considered to be the first light rail transit system in Southeast Asia, information on its website showed.
The P65-billion LRT-1 PPP deal will extend the existing rail line to Bacoor, Cavite. The expansion project is expected to boost daily ridership to over 800,000, the transportation department earlier said.
