Start of LRT-1 extension moved to May

MANILA, Philippines — The start of construction of the project extending the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) to Cavite has been moved anew, with its commencement seen finally happening next month.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said it would have a ceremony on May 6 to signal the start of actual works of LRT-1 Cavite Extension Project.

The DOTr on February said the project, which will stretch LRT-1 over 33 kilometers from Roosevelt in Quezon City to Niog, Bacoor in Cavite City, would start this month.

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

Once the extension is built and completed, 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.

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

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.

Early this month, the DOTr secured the commitment from telco giant PLDT Inc. and Manila Electric Co. to expedite the relocation of utilities such as electric and telecommunications lines that will be affected by major transport projects, which includes the LRT-1 Cavite Extension.

The Light Rail Manila Corp. (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. – was awarded the public-private partnership project to operate, maintain, and extend the LRT-1 in 2014.

LRMC’s contract for the LRT-Cavite extension project 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.

The consortium is spending P35 billion for the project. LRMC has already secured a P25-billion loan facility from three banks while it said the rest would be funded by equity from the group.