LRT-1 Cavite extension construction to start April

MANILA, Philippines — Construction of the project extending the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) to Cavite is finally pushing through after years of delay, despite the start of the construction officially being moved to the second quarter from the previous target of first quarter.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said the project, which will stretch LRT-1 over 33 kilometers from Roosevelt in Quezon City to Niog, Bacoor in Cavite City, is set to start in April.

“Mock up LRV (light rail vehicle) has arrived in the Philippines and it will be unveiled in April, parallel to the start of construction of the LRT Cavite Extension,” the DOTr said.

Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) president and chief executive officer Juan Alfonso earlier indicated plans to move the start of construction of the project to the second quarter.

“A lot of the right of way issues have been resolved, but for example, there are utilities that still need to be relocated, so once those are fairly complete then we can start construction. The right of way is already there, but sometimes it is not free and clear so there are still obstacles that are being fixed right now,” Alfonso said in an interview last December.

The LRT-1 currently has 20 stations spanning from Roosevelt Station in Quezon City to Baclaran Station in Parañaque City.

The LRMC consortium, composed of Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd., also won the contract for the LRT-Cavite extension project which will give rise to eight new stations – Redemptorist, NAIA Avenue, Asia World, Ninoy Aquino and Dr. Santos stations in Parañaque, Las Piñas and Zapote stations in Las Piñas City and Niog station in Bacoor.

Right of way issues have hounded the project in the past, as it was supposed to have been completed by this time based on the original concession agreement in 2014.

The extension project is expected to be completed by the last quarter of 2021 or early 2022.

Once built, travel time from Bacoor to Central Station in Manila will be down to 45 minutes, and to Roosevelt Station in one hour and 10 minutes, even during rush hours.