Document submission for LRT-2 deal delayed

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has postponed the submission of qualification requirements for the operations-and-maintenance-only Light Rail Transit Line 2 public private partnership (PPP) deal to next year.

The DOTC said in a bid bulletin last Friday that the deadline set on Dec. 15 this year would be moved to Jan. 27, 2015, following requests for extensions from “numerous bidders.”

It was still unclear how this would affect the submission of bid offers that was earlier set in May or June 2015.

The LRT Line 2 is the second rail project of the DOTC to be tendered this year after the P65-billion LRT-1 PPP deal was reauctioned and eventually bagged by a consortium led by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp.

While the LRT-1 deal only drew a single offer, the government was hopping for better prospects for the LRT-2. Companies have started to show early interest in the LRT-2 deal as a dozen firms showed up at its prequalification conference.

Under this PPP arrangement, the government will retain ownership of the LRT facility.

The DOTC said the winner would operate the existing 13.8-kilometer LRT-2 line from Recto Avenue to the Depot at Santolan along Marcos Highway for 10 years, with a possible five-year extension.

The department will separately build a 4.19-km East extension, or from Santolan to the Masinag market in Antipolo City along Marcos Highway. The DOTC said construction would be completed by the end of 2016 and the facility would be turned over to the LRT-2 concessionaire.

The DOTC said other extension projects for the LRT system were being studied, including the viability of a so-called West extension to the Divisoria area of Manila.

“Urban infrastructure development has been identified as a priority area by the national government. In particular, the proposed project will improve access to central Manila and the rapidly growing provinces in the east,” the DOTC said in a previous bid memorandum.

“This project would enhance the Metro Manila and Antipolo regions’ competitiveness and quality of life, fostering sustainable, transit-oriented development in Metro Manila and the surrounding provinces,” it added.

The DOTC said LRT-2, the smallest and newest of three elevated railways in Metro Manila, started commercial operations in 2003.