P60-billion light rail project lures 10 firms
June 27, 2012 at 20:40
THE groups of Manuel V. Pangilinan and Ramon S. Ang are among the more than 10 firms that have formally signified interest to bid for the P60-billion operation and extension of LRT 1 (Light Rail Transit 1) to Cavite province, south of Manila.
A well-placed source told the BusinessMirror over the weekend that among those that purchased pre-qualification documents were “San Miguel Infra, Mitsubishi Corp., D.M. Consunji, Hanjin, Sumitomo Corp., Leighton, Marubeni, ING Bank, BPI Capital, FF Cruz, Macquarie Group and the group Manuel V. Pangilinan and Ayala Corp.” Ang belongs to the San Miguel group.
Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Ayala have formed a consortium that will participate in the auction of the railway project.
“They already bought pre-qualification documents. August is the deadline for the submission of the requirements stated in the pre-qualification documents,” said the source, who added that many more are expected to purchase the documents.
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) issued on June 4 an invitation to pre-qualify and bid for the LRT 1 Cavite extension project.
The existing 20.7-kilometer (km) LRT Line 1 from Roosevelt (Quezon City) to Baclaran (Pasay City) will be extended by 15 kilometers to Cavite by adding 10 stations passing through Parañaque City, Las Piñas City and Bacoor town in Cavite.
Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II had said interested firms must be able to operate and maintain the existing LRT 1 as well. Moreover, bidders must replace the train fleet and undertake required rehabilitation works on the railway infrastructure and systems over the life of the concession.
Those who purchased the pre-qualification documents for P50,000 each have until August 22 to submit their initial requirements, followed by a pre-bid conference sometime in October this year.
The winning bidder will be announced next year while the contract is slated for award in April 2013.
The project will have five components:
n Operation and maintenance of the existing system, which is 20.7 km long, has a loop time of 106 minutes with 20 stations traversing Quezon City, Caloocan City, Manila, Makati City and Pasay City. The company would take on service and repairs of depots, electrical and mechanical systems, rolling stock, stations, tracks and other assets.
n Design, construction, testing and completion of the 10.5-km elevated and 1.2-km “at-grade” extension to Cavite and eight stations, plus two future stations.
n Integration of the existing system with the new extension system, including train control and signaling, communications and the power-supply network along the more than 30-km total line.
n Operation and maintenance of the integrated system, including replacing trains and rehabilitating railway infrastructure over the life of the project.
n Enhancement of the integrated system, including fleet upgrades, future required depot and fleet expansions and all other necessary investments to sustain service and performance standards.
It is expected, the source added, that some of the 15 firms may form their respective consortium, and that the project-which is included in the public-private-partnership (PPP) list of President Aquino—is very attractive even to some investment banks.
“They [banks] have to buy the pre-qualification documents so as to avoid being eased out. To join the bidding, the firm or at least one of the members of the group or consortium that will participate in the auction should have bought the pre-qualification documents. So for the banks to have an advantage, they should buy their own [documents] rather than be at the mercy of the ones who [had] bought [the documents],” the source said.
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By Lenie Lectura
Source: Business Mirror, June 25, 2012
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