Prospective bidders of the P65.09-billion Light Rail Transit Line 6 on Monday asked the government to delay the auction of the project by six months, or after the election period.
An official of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., one of the interested companies in the project, said the Transportation Department should hold the bidding of the new line from Bacoor to Dasmariñas in Cavite province after the election period, or once the new officials were sworn in.
“Our country is not good in continuity of government. When the new government comes, there’s always changes,” MPIC vice president for business development Karim Garcia said during the pre-qualification conference.
Garcia asked the Transportation Department to extend the deadline by six months from the original deadline of April 5. Garcia said the government should set a realistic timeline for the project.
“It feels that they are really rushing it. We want to look at and understand the project,” Garcia said.
MPIC’s concern over the timetable of the bidding was supported by San Miguel Corp., another company that was looking into the project.
Transportation assistant secretary Jaime Fortunato Caringal said while the agency would review the indicative timeline of the bidding, the current bidding schedule was still “doable.”
Other companies that attended the pre-qualification conference were Systra, Egis, Metro Builders Corp. and Bombardier.
Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., a unit of MPIC and San Miguel Holdings Corp., a unit of San Miguel Corp., earlier purchased pre-qualification documents of the LRT Line 6 PPP project.
The Transportation Department said the opening of the bids for the project would be in September and while awarding was expected by October.
The project is a 19-kilometer railway from Niyog, Bacoor, which is the terminus of the P64.9-billion LRT 1 Cavite extension to Dasmariñas City.
The proposed LRT Line 6 will have seven stations at Niyog, Tirona, Imus, Daang Hari, Salitran, Congressional Avenue and Governor’s Drive.
Light Rail Manila Consortium, the joint venture of Ayala Corp. and MPIC, earlier won the LRT Line 1 Cavite extension project from Baclaran station to Bacoor.
Under the concession, LRMC will assume the operations and maintenance of the existing 20-kilometer LRT Line 1 and construct the 11.7-kilometer extension of the rail line to Bacoor.
The consortium will build eight new stations after Baclaran. These include Aseana, MIA, Asia World, Ninoy Aquino, Dr. Santos, Las Piñas, Zapote and Niyog.
The project will increase the span of LRT 1 from 20.7 kilometers to 32.4 kms, and provide commuters from Cavite and other parts of Parañaque and Las Piñas access to central Manila.
