LRTA board fails to award P65-B LRT 1 Ext project to MPIC-Ayala

MANILA, Philippines - The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) Board was not able to approve Wednesday the award of the P65 billion LRT1 Cavite Extension project to the tandem of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and conglomerate Ayala Corp.

Lawyer Hernando Cabrera, LRTA spokesperson, said in a text message that the LRTA Board chaired by Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya is set to meet anew on Friday to continue the discussion on the public private partnership (PPP) project.

“The LRTA Board will meet again on Friday morning,” Cabrera stressed.

He pointed out that the offer made by the Light Rail Manila Consortium for the railway project was not discussed during yesterday’s meeting.

“There were many items on the agenda and the matter was not discussed,” he explained.

The LRTA Board was supposed to meet two weeks ago but the meeting was postponed to July 16.

However, the July 16 meeting was again called off due to Typhoon Glenda.

The LRTA Board chaired by Abaya includes the respective secretaries of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Finance (DOF), head of the National Economic and Development Authority  (NEDA), the chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the chairman of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the LRTA administrator, and a representative from the private sector.

Last Monday, the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) endorsed the awarding of the public private partnership (PPP) project to the Light Rail Manila Consortium.

The lead member of the winning group is MPIC Light Rail Corp. with 55 percent while, other members include Ayala’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., with 35 percent, and Macquaire Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte Ltd. with 10 percent.

The consortium was the lone bidder that submitted a bid last May 28 while other bidders including diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) through SMC Infra Resources Inc., construction giant DMCI Holdings Inc., Filipino-owned Megawide Construction Corp., Spanish-owned Globalvia Inversiones SAU, Eco Rail Services Inc. of businessman Reghis Romero II, and Malaysian-owned MTD Philippines Inc. did not submit bids.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board chaired by President Aquino already approved the offer made by the Light Rail Manila Consortium last month.

The Cavite Extension project would increase the span of Line 1 from 20.7 kilometers to 32.4 kilometers with a new south endpoint in Niog, Bacoor, Cavite. The extension would open up the Line 1 services to the nearly four million residents of Parañaque, Las Piñas, and the Province of Cavite.

More than half of the project cost of the PPP project would cover the construction of the tracks, the stations and all its attendant facilities, while P30 billion would be used to purchase the trains to be funded by the government through official development assistance (ODA).

Mall developer SM Prime Holdings Inc. filed a case against the DOTC and LRTA seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) or injunction to stop the awarding of the contract for the LRT1 Cavite extension project.

The case stemmed from the transfer in the location of the proposed P1.4 billion LRT and Metro Rail Transit line 3 (MRT3) common station to Ayala’s Trinoma Mall instead of the original location in SM North EDSA Mall based on a memorandum of agreement signed in 2009 giving SM the naming rights in exchange for P200 million.