Listed Philippine holding firm DM Consunji Inc (DMCI) nailed a construction contract of the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) system in Manila with a winning bid of $51.5 million (P2.27 billion).
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) awarded on Tuesday the contract to DMCI to undertake the construction of a 3.9-kilometer elevated guideway for the LRT-2 East Extension, stretching from the railway’s current end-station in Santolan in Pasig City to Masinag in Cainta, Rizal province.
“Railway modernization entails improving infrastructure and shifting services towards better customer-orientation. Our projects for LRT-2 will make fast, affordable, and convenient transportation accessible to residents of the densely-populated parts of Rizal, such as Antipolo and Cainta,” said DOTC Secretary Jun Abaya.
DMCI has 18 months to finish the civil works for the elevated guideway or viaduct.
After awarding the contract, DOTC together with the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) accepted qualification documents of prospective bidders for the line’s O&M component under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.
The project will give the winning concessionaire a 10- to 15-years right to operate and maintain the existing 13.8-kilometer line which traverses the cities of Manila, San Juan, Quezon City, Marikina, and Pasig, as well as the 4.2-kilometer extension to Masinag, and any future extensions of the rail system.
The groups, purchasing invitation documents for the project’s pre-qualification stage, include DMCI, San Miguel Corporation, GT Capital Holdings, Inc., Light Rail Manila Corporation, Marubeni Corporation, France’s RATP Development, and Spain’s Globalvia.
Qualified bidders for the O&M project will be announced by the DOTC’s Bids and Awards Committee by the end of February. “Bidding itself should be held in the second half of the year,” DOTC said in its statement.
DOTC added a new proposal is now being processed by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) for the upgrading of LRT-2’s West Extension from its Recto station to the port area in Manila.