LIGHT RAIL Manila Corp. (LRMC), the
operator of Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1), is looking at completing the last
two sections of the Cavite
line extension project by
2027, its top official said.
“I think that that is
what we are targeting, [but
it has to be] with a lot of
work from the Department
of Transportation (DoTr),”
Juan F. Alfonso, president
and chief executive officer
of LRMC, told reporters
in a chance interview last
week.
According to Mr. Alfonso,
LRMC has an agreement
with the government for
the complete turnover of
the right of way for the remaining segments of the
project before the company starts its construction
activities.
“We are waiting to hear from the DoTr
because it is supposed to
be turned over to us. Our
agreement is when they
turn it over to us, it is free
and clear,” he said.
He added that
a timeline has not been
set for the turnover of the
complete right of way for
the remaining segments of
the project.
However, a company representative said
that the 2027 completion
target will largely depend
on the right-of-way acquisition.
“For the year for
phases 2 and 3, it will depend on when we will receive the right-of-way acquisition completely, then
count three to four years
from there for us to complete the works,” a representative of the company
said in a Viber message.
As of last week,
Mr. Alfonso said that the
government had not yet
turned over any right of
way to the LRT-1 operator
for the second and third
phases of the project.
However, he said
that the first segment of
the project, which constitutes the first five stations
of the LRT-1 Cavite extension project, is on track to
be completed by the fourth
quarter of next year.
Data from the
company showed that the
first phase of the project is
at an 88% completion rate,
with the five stations more
than 50% complete.
The first segment
covers the MIA Station,
Ninoy Aquino Station, Redemptorist Station, Asia
World Station, and Dr.
Santos Station, while the
remaining segments will
cover the construction of
the Las Piñas, Zapote and
Niog stations.
Last week, the
company started running
its first fourth-generation
train set which is also expected to serve not only
the main line of LRT-1 but
also the Cavite extension.
LRMC is the joint
venture of Ayala Corp.,
Metro Pacific Light Rail
Corp., and Macquarie
Infrastructure Holdings
(Philippines) Pte. Ltd.
Metro Pacific Light Rail is
a unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which is
one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong’s First
Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT Inc. and Philex
Mining Corp.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc.,
maintains interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. BW
