Second common station eyed

THE TRANSPORTATION Department is considering a “win-win” solution to break the current impasse over a railway common station in Quezon City, which is causing a delay in the awarding of the P65-billion Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite extension public-private partnership deal, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya told reporters that they were now mulling the construction of two common stations—one near SM Prime Holdings Inc.’s SM City North Edsa shopping mall and another near Ayala Land Inc.’s Trinoma shopping mall.

In exchange, SM Prime would be asked by the Department to drop its petition with the Supreme Court, he said.

An SM Prime official did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

SM Prime, a subsidiary of Henry Sy’s SM Investments Corp., earlier won a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court halting the transportation department from transferring the location of the common station that would connect the Light Rail Transit Line 1 and Metro Rail Transit Line 3 from SM City North Edsa to an area near Trinoma.

SM Prime said such transfer violated a 2009 agreement it had with the department and the Light Rail Transit Authority.

Abaya said they were initially planning to award the PPP deal this week despite the Supreme Court’s ruling.

But he said Tuesday they may now take a conservative approach given that the location of the common station in Trinoma was clearly stated in the concession agreement of the PPP project and an award may risk further legal conflict. A consortium backed by Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. was the sole bidder for the LRT-1 PPP deal.

“The quickest solution is if SM can pull out their petition, their complaint,” Abaya said. “Then we can look for a win-win solution so everyone’s advocacy will be integrated and accommodated.”

Abaya said the government   still wants to proceed with building the station near Trinoma to honor the terms of the LRT-1 PPP concession agreement, but to meet the requirements of the 2009 agreement with SM Prime, they would also allow the construction of a mini common station near SM City North Edsa’s property.