LRT Line 6 project in Cavite delayed anew

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) moved anew the deadline for submission of prequalification documents for the P65.1-billion Light Rail Transit Line 6, which will now fall under the incoming Duterte administration.

The DOTC said in a bid memo that the new deadline was moved from June 2 to Sept. 9, 2016 to give interested bidders more time to prepare their qualification documents.

The LRT-6 project involves the construction of a 19-kilometer railway from Niyog in Bacoor to Dasmariñas City in Cavite province.

The prequalification process is meant to determine which groups would be allowed to submit actual bids to win the deal, the third railway PPP project offered under the Aquino administration’s cornerstone infrastructure program thus far. The original prequalification deadline was set on March 4, 2016.

The DOTC estimated that about 200,000 Cavite residents would use the LRT-6 once completed. It said the project should be “inter-operable” with the LRT-1 Cavite extension project by the end of the 30-year concession period, the DOTC said.

The LRT-1 Cavite extension from Metro Manila to Bacoor, Cavite, is expected to be finished by 2020, winning bidder Light Rail Manila Corp., which is led by Ayala and Metro Pacific, announced earlier.

For the LRT-6, the private sector will handle the design, construction, operations and maintenance of the 19-km train line from Bacoor to Dasmariñas as well as the procurement, testing and commissioning of train coaches, equipment and support infrastructure.

The Aquino administration, which ends in June 2016,  had successfully auctioned 12 PPP deals valued at more than P200 billion. Of these, the modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center was terminated after the private sector winner walked away following years of delays on the part of the Department of Health.