MANILA, Philippines - Conglomerate Ayala Corp. is open to the idea of two train stations that would connect the Light Rail Transit line 1 (LRT-1) along Taft Ave. and Metro Rail Transit line 3 (MRT-3) along EDSA.
John Eric Francia, managing director at Ayala, said the Light Rail Manila Consortium (LRMC) is open to accepting solutions including the possibility of the construction of two train stations for the LRT-1 and MRT-3.
“As shareholders of LRMC, we are open to accepting mutually acceptable solutions from the government and other private sector proponents. I think that is something that we can keep an open mind on,” Francia said.
He cited the case in Hong Kong MTR where there are two common stations in Central and Admiralty.
“So it is not uncommon to have two common stations. At the end of the day, it is the government’s call,” he added.
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and LRMC signed the concession agreement for the P65 billion LRT-1 Cavite extension project that would extend the mass transit system all the way to Niog in Bacoor, Cavite from Baclaran in Pasay City.
The lead member of the group is infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. through MPIC Light Rail Corp. with 55 percent followed by Ayala’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. with 35 percent and Macquaire Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte Ltd. with 10 percent.
SM Prime Holdings Inc. of retail and banking magnate Henry Sy has obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court preventing the DOTC from transferring the location of the proposed P1.4 billion common train station infront of Trinoma Mall instead of SM City North EDSA based on an agreement in 2009.
Francia said the concession agreement for the LRT-1 Cavite extension project is flexible on the issue on the proposed common station.
“If they need our input, we are wiling to cooperate and keep an open mind. To us, at the end of the day it is out of our control. We don’t want a never ending argument,” he added.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya earlier said diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) through Universal LRT Corp. (ULC) is pushing for the construction of a common station in front of the SM City North EDSA to link the proposed P63 billion MRT-7 with MRT-3 along EDSA.