LRMC gets P24B loan for LRT-1 Cavite extension deal

The Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) has signed a P25 billion loan to finance the construction of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) and the rehabilitation of the existing LRT-1 system.

The company also signed the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement for the LRT-1 Cavite extension project, one of the country's largest public-private partnership (PPP) projects.

Both deals were signed on Thursday, Metro Pacific Investments Corp., one of the investors in LRMC, noted in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday.

“Yesterday afternoon we signed a P24-billion loan with three major Philippine banks,” LRMC President and Chief Executive Officer Jesus P. Francisco told reporters in a separate briefing Friday.

“These milestone agreements give us significant headway towards the construction and commissioning of the much-awaited Cavite Extension which will benefit an additional 300,000 passengers from four big cities in southern Manila,” Francisco noted.

The 15-year Omnibus Loan and Security Agreement involves Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (Metrobank), Security Bank Corporation and Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC).

Around P15.3 billion of the total loan amount is allotted to the Cavite extension project and P8.7 billion to rehabilitate the existing LRT-1 mass rail system.

LRMC is a joint venture among Metro Pacific Investments Corporation’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corporation (MPLRC), Ayala Corporation’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corporation (AC Infra), and the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd. (MIHPL).

4-year construction

The consortium and its EPC contractors, Bouyges Travaux Publics and Alstom Transport, are set to commence the construction of the 11.7 kilometer Cavite extension "... once right of way is delivered by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) and Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA).

“Hopefully by the second half of this year,” Francisco noted.

“We are confident we can start this year... We can start construction when the ROW for the section 1 has been delivered to us. Based on the latest report we received on January 22, there has been a lot of progress. ROW 1 will be ready by about the middle of the year, by June 1,” he said.

The extension of the LRT-1 beyond the Baclaran south-end station in Pasay City is targeted for completion in four years.

The 11.7-kilometer extension will connect into the existing LRT-1 system will run in a generally southerly direction to Niyog, Cavite.

The construction works will cover eight new stations across Pasay City, Parañaque City, Las Piñas City and Cavite. The new stations are Aseana, MIA, Asia World, Ninoy Aquino, Dr. Santos, Las Piñas, Zapote and Niyog.

60 km per hour

LRMC noted the commercial speed on the Cavite extension would be 60 km per hour.

In general, the tracks are designed for a train speed of 80 km per hour for the mainline track, 60 km/h through stations, and 30 km per hour for the secondary and depot tracks.

The train system currently runs at 40 km per hour, which is expected to be increased to 60 km per hour by 2018.

“We’re targeting within the next two years we can bring it to 60 km per hour,” Noel Eli B. Kintanar, executive vice president of AC Infrastructure Holdings said at the same briefing.

“By the time the extension is finished, the end station in Niyog going to the Central Station – at 60 km per hour – you should be able to get there in 41.5 minutes,” Franciso said.

"The new stations will be accessible to and from nearby community facilities such as shops, schools, stadium, park, and be located to suit passenger flow routes from residential areas," the disclosure read.

Bouygues Travaux Publics, which will provide the railway infrastructure for the Cavite extension, is known globally for complex projects involving tunnels, engineering structures and road, port and rail infrastructure, the most recent of which were the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge, the Port of Miami Tunnel and the Nîmes-Montpellier rail bypass in France.

Alstom Transport, on the other hand, will undertake the railway systems work, including track work, power supply, train control and signaling system, communications systems and the construction of the Operations Control System to provide seamless operation between the existing LRT-1 and the Cavite extension.

LRMC plans to increase the number of trains through a JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) loan.

"The new trains we’re hoping to get funded by grantors through a JICA loan. It’s still being bidded out, expected (to arrive) by end-2017 at best, or probably early 2018,” Francisco said.

“We are expecting 120 light rail vehicles (LRVs) configured into 30 trains of four LRVs each,” he said.

Once fully delivered, the train capacity of the system is expected to increase the current daily capacity of 400,000 passengers.

“The trains can carry more, shorten queues... We have the tools to make the service better. We hope that we will have a little more resources,” Francisco added.

On October 12, 2014, LRMC signed a concession agreement with the DOTC and LRTA for the P65-billion LRT 1 Cavite Extension, Operation & Maintenance Project.

The project is part of the 2011-2016 Philippine Development Plan to accelerate infrastructure development. – With Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VS, GMA News