MPIC, SMC interested in LRT 6

MANILA, Philippines - Conglomerates Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and San Miguel Corp. (SMC) have expressed interest in the P65.09 billion Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 6 public-private partnership (PPP) project.

In a statement yesterday, the PPP Center said MPIC unit Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp. and SMC’s San Miguel Holdings Corp. purchased pre-qualification documents for the LRT 6 project.

The project involves the construction of the proposed 19-kilometer railway that will connect to the LRT 1 system.

LRT 1 which currently runs from Roosevelt, Quezon City to Baclaran, Pasay City, will be extended all the way to Niyog, Cavite by the Light Rail Manila Corp., a consortium of Metro Pacific Light Rail, AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd.

The LRT 6 will cover Niyog, Bacoor (the terminus of the LRT Line 1 Cavite extension) to Dasmariñas City.

The proposed LRT 6 railway will have seven stations such as Niyog, Tirona, Imus, Daang Hari, Salitran, Congressional Avenue and Governor’s Drive.

The private partner will handle the financing, design as well as construction of the rail line.

The government is conducting the bidding for the LRT 6 deal as it is expected to improve the passenger mobility and reduce volume of vehicular traffic in Cavite.

Apart from LRT 1, Metro Manila is currently served by two other rail transit systems such as LRT Line 2 (from Santolan station in Pasig City until Recto station in Manila) and Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (from North Avenue station in Quezon City until Taft station in Pasay City).

The Department of Transportation and Communications is set to hold the pre-qualification conference for the LRT 6 deal on Monday at the Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria in Ortigas.

The tentative deadline for the submission of pre-qualification documents for the project is on March 4.