The Philippine Star, 29 December 2014
By Lawrence Agcaoili
MANILA, Philippines – The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) has earmarked P403 million for the relocation of informal settlers to be displaced by the P65 billion Light Rail Transit line 1 (LRT-1) Cavite Extension project.
In a published notice, the LRTA announced the bidding of the contract for the relocation housing units and amenities for the informal settlers affected by the alignment of the largest public private partnership (PPP) project awarded so far by the Aquino administration.
Federico Canlas, chairman of the agency’s Bids and Awards Committee-Non-Rail, said in the notice that the LRTA would hold a pre-bid conference on Jan. 9 and investors have until Feb. 11 to submit their bids for the relocation project.
“Pre bid conference shall be open to all interested bidders. Submission and opening of bids will publicly be held in the presence of the bidder’s authorized representatives who choose to attend,” he said.
Canlas pointed out that the agency’s BAC – Non-Rail would be conducted through open competitive bidding procedure using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Revised implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 9184 otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act.
The bidding, he added, is restricted to Filipino citizens/ sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least 75 percent interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to the citizens of the Philippines.
The government and the tandem of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and conglomerate Ayala Corp. signed the concession agreement for the largest PPP project last Oct. 2
MPIC’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp. controls 55 percent of the Light Rail Manila Consortium followed by Ayala’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. with 35 percent and the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd. with 10 percent.
Under the agreement, LRMC would operate and maintain the existing LRT-1 from Roosevelt in Quezon City up to Baclaran and at the same time construct an 11.7-km extension to the Niog area in Bacoor, Cavite consisting of eight new train stations traversing the cities of Parañaque and Las Piñas up to Bacoor.
LRMC has forged partnerships with three leading French companies to deliver a world-class rail transit system. Both Bouygues Travaux Publics and Alstom Transport are well known for their impressive track records in constructing mass rail transit systems in France and other parts of the world while the RATP Group that operates Paris Metro, has been tapped as technical partner.
The DOTC is also scouting for an independent consultant for the LRT-1 Cavite extension project. It is bidding out an P834.5 million consultancy contract for the PPP project.
