PHL to start bidding out LRT-1 extension, says Mar Roxas

The Philippines will invite investors to bid for the Light Railway Transit Line 1 (LRT-I) extension project under the public-private partnership program starting this month.   The bidding will likely start at the end of April, Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas II told reporters at the sidelines of Qatar Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani in Malacañang on Tuesday.   Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas II on Tuesday said bidders would be invited at the end of the month.   “Tinatapos lang ‘yung terms of reference for Line One,” noted Roxas.   “Quite a lot” have expressed their interest, Roxas said, to bid for the P61.53-billion PPP project.   The private sector is expected to finance P30.93 billion of the LRT-I extension project, with government pitching in P30.59 billion.   The bidding for the LRT Line 2 extension from the Santolan Station that skirts Pasig-Marikina border to Masinag in Antipolo, is expected to start before the middle of the year, Roxas said, noting the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is still studying P3-billion project.   The NEDA board, chaired by President Benigno Aquino III, agreed last month to bid out the LRT Line 1 South Extension project.   The project involves constructing eight additional stations to the 15-kilometer train line that runs from Roosevelt Avenue in Quezon City to Baclaran at the border of Pasay City and Parañaque City.   Roxas said the construction is scheduled to start at the end of 2012, and that he expects 50 percent of the extension line to Bacoor Cavite, to be operational at the end of 2014.   The additional stations include: 

• Redemptorist Station on Redemptorist Road (Roxas Boulevard)

• MIA Station near the Coastal Mall (Roxas Boulevard)

• Asia World Station near Asia World Development (Roxas Boulevard)

• Ninoy Aquino Station on the east side of Ninoy Aquino Bridge over Parañaque River

• Dr. Santos Station, south of Dr. Santos Road

• Las Piñas Station, east of Quirino Avenue and south of Las Piñas River

• Zapote station, north of the Alabang-Zapote flyover and

• Niyog Station, south of the Niyog Road bypass and Aguinaldo Highway intersection

Two provisional stations–Manuyo Uno in Las Piñas City and Talaba in Cavite–are also being proposed.   President Aquino earlier said he wanted the LRT extension finished by the end of  2015.   “If I haven’t ridden on it by 2015, I will be very severely disappointed,” Aquino said in his speech during the Philippine Investment Forum last month in Makati City. —VS, GMA News