The Villar Group plans to venture into rail infrastructure development, starting with another extension of Light Railway Transit Line 1 all the way to Governor’s Drive in Cavite province.
Businessman Manuel Villar, chairman of Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., and former House speaker and Senate president, said in a media briefing Tuesday evening he submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Department of Transportation to build seven more stations that will extend LRT 1 to Governor’s Drive.
Villar said he was in talks with Light Railway Manila Corp., the operator of LRT 1, to connect his proposed railway to the existing line.
LRMC is extending LRT 1 by 11 kilometers with eight stations from Baclaran in Paranaque City to Bacoor, Cavite. The operational segment of the line runs from Roosevelt Ave. in Quezon City to Baclaran with 20 stations.
Villar said he was also willing to take over the final three stations under LRMC’s proposed LRT 1 extension project in case the latter decided not to pursue the project over right-of-way problems.
LRMC, a joint venture of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Ayala Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd., is constructing the first segment of the LRT 1 extension project with five stops from Redemptorist Station in Baclaran to Dr. Santos Station in Sucat, Parañaque City.
Construction of the next phases covering three stations from Las Piñas to Niog, Bacoor has yet to start because of ROW issues.
Villar owns vast land bank in Las Piñas and Cavite under his 3,500-hectare Villar City. This would enable him to construct the succeeding phases of the project via Molino Road, instead of Aguinaldo Highway.
Villar said both parties would benefit from the unsolicited proposal as this would increase the ridership of LRT Line 1.
He said he is open to having a joint venture partner for the proposed railway project.
Villar also proposed to extend his newly-acquired Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway to connect to Cavite-Laguna Expressway project of MPIC.
Under the plan, the Villar Group will develop an expressway that will link the four-kilometer MCX to a portion of CALAX in Tanza, Cavite.
The railway and MCX extension projects are aimed at improving the connectivity of Villar City, which is being masterplanned as the next central business district in Metro Manila. This will also improve traffic south of Metro Manila as Villar City spans 15 cities.
The Villar Group has investments in housing, retail, food, water, power, utilities and integrated resorts and entertainment.
