MANILA, Philippines — The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) is nearing the conclusion of its feasibility study on adding three new stations to the east of the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) to scale up the passenger capacity of the railway.
According to LRTA deputy administrator for operations and engineering Paul Chua, the agency is finalizing the feasibility study for the Cogeo Extension Project of the LRT-2.
Chua said the project involves putting up additional three stations to the east of LRT-2 to lessen the passenger volume that builds up in the final stop, Masinag.
“This [Cogeo Extension Project] is an extension project presently undergoing a feasibility study. This is the additional extension to the east, extended to Cogeo in Antipolo City,” Chua said.
“The Metro Manila Development Authority and the local government units of Pasig, Marikina and Antipolo are all concerned with the traffic congestion in the first east extension. There is then an understanding for the need to further extend the project,” he said.
Once the feasibility study is completed, Chua said the LRTA can proceed with how to implement the project, particularly what the alignment would look like and where to source funding.
“We are waiting for the feasibility study to be completed so that additional plans can be made on how to proceed with this project,” Chua said.
Apart from this, Chua said the LRTA will push through as well with the 3.2-kilometer extension of the LRT-2 west of the Recto Station.
Likewise, the government has decided to source the financing for the P10.12 billion project from the national budget. Prior to this, the LRTA had tried pitching the project to the private sector as part of the shift to public-private partnerships for infrastructure funding.
“Presently, the alignment is being finalized, some other planning is being done and the funding is being finalized. The total project cost is around P10 billion and the funding source is through the General Appropriations Act,” Chua said.
“As of now, we are waiting for our final stages [to be done] before we go into public bidding for this West Extension Project,” he added.
The LRT-2 West Extension Project seeks to extend the LRT-2 by adding three new stations —Tutuban, Divisoria and Pier 4—as well as procuring five new trains with four-car setups.