Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is considering selling its stake in the Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), the operator of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) over the railway’s continued financial losses, chairman Manuel Pangilinan told reporters Tuesday.
Pangilinan said that ridership on the LRT-1 has not fully recovered since the COVID pandemic and continued to drop.
LRMC is a joint venture among MPIC, Ayala Corp. and Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s Macquarie Investments Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd.
MPIC, through unit Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp. (MPLRC), holds a 35.8-percent stake in LRMC. This ownership was reduced from an initial 55 percent following the acquisition of a 19.2-percent interest by Sumitomo Corp in 2020.
Ayala’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp owns 35 percent, while Macquire holds the remaining 10 percent.
LRMC began operating and maintaining the LRT-1 in September 2015 under a 32-year, P65-billion concession agreement with the Department of Transportation and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA).
Last year, LRMC launched the partial operations of the LRT-1 Cavite Extension, a major project expected to alleviate traffic and improve mobility for southern Metro Manila residents.
As the first significant railway project completed under the Marcos administration, Phase 1 of the extension is projected to cut travel time from Parañaque to Quezon City by nearly an hour and add 80,000 daily passengers to the LRT-1’s current ridership of 323,000.
The initial phase added five new stations—Redemptorist-ASEANA, MIA Road, PITX, Ninoy Aquino Avenue and Dr. Santos (formerly Sucat)—extending the rail line’s alignment to 26 kilometers from the previous 20 kilometers.
Once fully operational, the entire stretch of the LRT-1 Cavite Extension Project will reduce travel time from Baclaran in Paranaque to Bacoor, Cavite to 25 minutes.
