Extension of LRT 1 line finished by ’21

Light Rail Manila Corp., a consortium led by Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., said on Tuesday it expects to complete the construction of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 Cavite extension project by 2021.

“I think it [construction] was supposed to start last year and it was expected to finish in about five years. So, I guess we’re looking at once right of way is delivered, we’ll have around four to five years to finish the Cavite extension,” LRMC General Counsel Philip Ranada told reporters in a briefing. 

LRMC’s original target to complete the project was by 2020.

Ranada said the company expects to start the construction of the LRT 1 Cavite Extension project by end of the year or early next year. 

“We’re confident that the government has been working overtime to solve the right of way issue. … there are a couple of issues like the presence of informal settlers at some of our locations and Meralco posts that have to be relocated,” he said. 

“I think the government has done a lot of work. We’ve been in constant communication with the government on the status and the hope is that they can either deliver this year or next,” Ranada added. 

Ranada said the company was trying to set a meeting with the Transportation Department to discuss the planned fare hike for LRT 1 this month. 

“We applied and the grantors, the DoTC  has the authority to grant it or not. We’ll just take the lead from the DOTC. As we said, business as usual. We’ll still continue with the service improvements. The public should not worry about any degradation of service even without fare increase,” he said.

LRMC won the bidding for the 11.7-kilometer Cavite extension project and took over the operation of LRT Line 1 on Sept. 12, 2015. 

The 11.7-kilometer Cavite extension will connect into the existing system immediately south of the Baclaran station and run in a generally southerly direction to Niyog, Cavite.  

It will consist of elevated guideways throughout most of the alignment, except for the guideway section at Zapote which will be located at grade.  It will consist of the satellite depot and new station.