Conglomerates eye LRT-6 PPP project

FILIPINO conglomerates and a Malaysian infrastructure group are among those eyeing the Aquino administration’s next big-ticket public-private partnership deal, the proposed P65.1-billion Light Rail Transit Line 6 (LRT-6) in Cavite province.

Company officials from Ayala Corp., San Miguel Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp., and Malaysia’s MTD Group expressed their interest to pre-qualify for the project, which will be connected to another major railway, the LRT-1 that serves Metro Manila.

A bid invitation posted online by the government showed that the 19-kilometer LRT-6 will run from Niyog, Bacoor to Dasmariñas City in Cavite. The Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) estimated that about 200,000 Cavite residents would use the LRT-6.

“The ridership may be there and mass transit is one of our core competencies,” Isaac David, president of MTD Philippines, said in an interview.

Raoul Eduardo Romulo, chief financial officer/treasury head of San Miguel Holdings Corp., said SMC was poised to participate.

“All infra projects are interesting to SMC,” he said.

The LRT-6 project is linked to a previously-awarded PPP deal, the LRT-1 Cavite extension project. That project involves the extension of the LRT-1 in Metro Manila to Bacoor, Cavite, by a consortium led by Metro Pacific and Ayala.

The bidding schedule has yet to be finalized. An official of the DOTC, however, said it was unlikely that this project would be awarded during the term of President Aquino.