Metro Pacific, Ayala tandem to pour P35B in LRT project

A consortium led by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp. will invest P35 billion in the Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite extension project, which it recently won under the Aquino administration’s public private partnership program.

Metro Pacific and Ayala, in a joint statement Monday, disclosed that their venture, Light Rail Manila Consortium, was formally awarded the PPP deal, the largest thus far. Light Rail Manila was the sole bidder for the project after the others backed out last May.

Their offer was a P9.35-billion concession fee, a tenth of which will be paid before the concession agreement is signed in the coming days or weeks.

Part of the PPP deal calls for Light Rail Manila to operate the whole LRT-1 and its 11.7-kilometer extension to Bacoor, Cavite, for a period of 32 years.

Under the PPP framework, the government will acquire the Right of Way for the Cavite Extension, the satellite depot, and procure 120 light rail vehicles, which will be funded under a grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

“Our partnership with the government will benefit nearly 500,000 Metro Manila commuters that ride LRT 1 daily,” Manuel V. Pangilinan, Metro Pacific chair, said in the statement.

Pangilinan added that the consortium was committed to providing the public convenient, reliable and safe train service and will work with one of its pre-qualified international rail system operators, which has solid experience in developing and operating modern and efficient mass rail transit.

“The resources that our group and the Metro Pacific group are putting in for the rail system attest to our serious commitment to provide a holistic, long-term solution to the transport challenges we are facing today,” said Ayala chair Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.

“This project is a significant step forward in creating the right environment and infrastructure to address the many pressures that growth brings to urbanization,” he added.

The PPP deal, meanwhile, involves the construction of eight new stations out of which three will have intermodal facilities.

The eight new stations after Baclaran will include Aseana, MIA, Asia World, Ninoy Aquino, Dr. Santos, Las Piñas, Zapote, and Niyog. The intermodal facilities will be located at Dr. Santos, Zapote and Niyog.

This extension will increase the span of LRT 1 from the current 20.7-kilometer line to 32.4 kilometers and provide commuters from the Province of Cavite and other parts of Parañaque and Las Piñas vital access to central Manila, the statement showed.