MANILA, Philippines – The government has postponed the submission of pre-qualification documents for the P65-billion Light Rail Transit Line 6 (LRT-6) Project as it needs more time to look into the details of the deal.

Noel Kintanar, Transport undersecretary for rail, said the Department of Transportation’s Bids and Awards Committee would be issuing a notice on the new date for the submission of the pre-qualification documents for the project.

“We are still revisiting the issues but it’s in the pipeline. It has NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) approval, but I guess we have to ensure it fits into the plan,” he said.

Kintanar said the government wants to ensure railway projects including the LRT-6 are financially viable when offered to the private sector for bidding.

The LRT-6 was rolled out under the PPP program by the previous administration.

The project covers a proposed 19-kilometer railway from the end of the LRT 1 Extension or Niyog in Bacoor, to Dasmariñas City in Cavite.

The railway’s proposed right of way alignment is along the Aguinaldo Highway with seven stations: Niyog, Tirona, Imus, Daang Hari, Salitran, Congressional Avenue, and Governor’s Drive.

Under the deal, the private partner will have a 30-year cooperation period with the government including five years to complete the construction of the railway.

Among the winning bidder’s responsibilities are the financing, design, construction, operations and maintenance, as well as the procurement of rolling stock for the train system.

The project is expected to improve passenger mobility as well as reduce vehicular traffic in the Cavite area.

At present, Metro Manila is served by three railways such as LRT 1 (Roosevelt station in Quezon City up to Baclaran station in Pasay City), LRT 2 (Santolan station in Pasig City until Recto station in Manila) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 (North Avenue station in Quezon City until Taft station in Pasay City).

LRT 1 is set to be extended from the present end point of Baclaran all the way to Niyog in Cavite.

The MRT 7 which covers North Avenue in Quezon City until San Jose del Monte in Bulacan meanwhile, is under construction.

09 September 2016
By Louella Desiderio