The massive Cavite extension phase of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1), now about three years behind schedule, may start construction within the first half of 2019, according to its private sector operator.
The new schedule was the latest in a series of moving targets that emerged since the government awarded in 2014 the operations and maintenance of LRT-1 and its eventual 11.7-kilometer extension to Bacoor, Cavite, to Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), a venture backed by Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.
Delays in the Aquino administration-era Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project were blamed mainly on right-of-way issues, a responsibility of the government. These are now “fairly complete” for the initial phase covering the first five train stations, LRMC president and CEO Juan F. Alfonso told reporters in an interview on Friday.
He said they were in talks with utilities such as power distributor Manila Electric Co., a unit of Metro Pacific, to relocate facilities along the Cavite extension project’s alignment. Alfonso said this included a so-called feeder line that provides electricity to the Mall of Asia complex in Metro Manila.
“We are targeting the last quarter of 2021 or early 2022,” Alfonso said when asked about the target completion date of the Cavite extension project.
The new schedule is well beyond the initial intention to finish the Cavite extension, which will increase its capacity from about half a million passengers a day to almost 800,000 and ease congested road corridors south of Metro Manila, by 2019. Under the contract, the right of way should have been delivered by the government in 2015, Alfonso said.
The Cavite extension project’s prospective completion comes even after Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp., through a Japan International Cooperation Agency loan, scheduled the delivery of 120 brand-new train coaches in 2020. Alfonso said they planned to start the construction of an expanded train depot in 2019 to house the new coaches.
The LRT-1 extension project, valued at about P65 billion, was the largest PPP deal under the previous administration. LRMC, which will operate the LRT-1 and its extension line through a 32-year concession period, was the only bidder that submitted an offer after rival groups, some of whom cited the poor viability of the project, backed out. The PPP project had to be auctioned off twice after the first round failed.
The LRT-1, which started operations on December 1, 1984, is the oldest of the three elevated railway lines in Metro Manila. When LRMC took over in September 2015, its condition was described as “severely deteriorated,” with power facilities and train stations requiring rehabilitation and just 77 of the promised 100 train coaches in running condition.
https://business.inquirer.net/261535/lrt-1-cavite-phase-seen-to-finally-start-in-h1-2019
Monday, December 3, 2018
LRMC counts cost of delay in gov’t approval of LRT-1 fare increase
LIGHT RAIL Manila Corp. (LRMC), the private operator of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1), said it has incurred a “fare deficit” of about P100 million for the three quarters of 2018 due to the government’s delay in granting its fare hike petition.
“Our agreement calls for compensation of the… If the fares are at a certain level and it’s not raised, it’s in our agreement, what we call a ‘fare deficit’… (For 2018), there’s a P100 million difference in the revenue that we should have been getting with the increased fares versus what we got,” LRMC President and Chief Executive Officer Juan F. Alfonso told reporters on Friday.
LRMC applied for a P5 to P7 increase in LRT-1 fares last March — the second time it did since the company was awarded the contract to operate the train line in 2014. The Department of Transportation (DoTr) has yet to approve the petition.
The consortium of Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd. started operating LRT-1 in September 2015, after it signed the P65 billion, 32-year concession agreement with the government in Oct. 2014. Based on the terms, LRMC is allowed to raise LRT-1 fares every two years.
The DoTr said in August LRMC’s petition was still under discussion, and would require a public hearing, before being approved.
Mr. Alfonso said even with the delays, the government has not paid for the fare deficits from the past years.
“We haven’t been compensated for fare deficits,” he said. “The mechanism in the agreement is for fare deficit or for fare increase. For fare increase, it is paid per user. So if I live in Manila, Makati or Pasay and I use the system, I pay for it. For fare deficit, then it’s taken… from DoTr (budget),” he explained.
Despite this, Mr. Alfonso noted LRMC is still making “a little bit of money,” but just enough to keep the system running.
LRMC allocated a capital expenditure of P7.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the train system, structural rectification and an extension of the line to Cavite.
Mr. Alfonso said they have already spent about P12 billion as of end-November. The capex budget is expected to shift starting next year to focus on the Cavite extension.
He said construction of the LRT-1 Cavite extension is expected to commence by first half of 2019, as substantial right of way was already granted for the first of three segments of the extension.
The 11.7-kilometer extension that will build eight new stations from Baclaran, Pasay City to Niog, Bacoor City is seen completed by late 2021 or early 2022. Mr. Alfonso said the difficulty in relocating posts of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) was the cause of delay.
“We’re still assuming the same costs… Later on, if some of these things have delays and increased costs, then there’s a mechanism in our agreement to deal with it… There’s going to be escalations in costs,” he added.
MPIC is one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group. — Denise A. Valdez
“Our agreement calls for compensation of the… If the fares are at a certain level and it’s not raised, it’s in our agreement, what we call a ‘fare deficit’… (For 2018), there’s a P100 million difference in the revenue that we should have been getting with the increased fares versus what we got,” LRMC President and Chief Executive Officer Juan F. Alfonso told reporters on Friday.
LRMC applied for a P5 to P7 increase in LRT-1 fares last March — the second time it did since the company was awarded the contract to operate the train line in 2014. The Department of Transportation (DoTr) has yet to approve the petition.
The consortium of Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd. started operating LRT-1 in September 2015, after it signed the P65 billion, 32-year concession agreement with the government in Oct. 2014. Based on the terms, LRMC is allowed to raise LRT-1 fares every two years.
The DoTr said in August LRMC’s petition was still under discussion, and would require a public hearing, before being approved.
Mr. Alfonso said even with the delays, the government has not paid for the fare deficits from the past years.
“We haven’t been compensated for fare deficits,” he said. “The mechanism in the agreement is for fare deficit or for fare increase. For fare increase, it is paid per user. So if I live in Manila, Makati or Pasay and I use the system, I pay for it. For fare deficit, then it’s taken… from DoTr (budget),” he explained.
Despite this, Mr. Alfonso noted LRMC is still making “a little bit of money,” but just enough to keep the system running.
LRMC allocated a capital expenditure of P7.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the train system, structural rectification and an extension of the line to Cavite.
Mr. Alfonso said they have already spent about P12 billion as of end-November. The capex budget is expected to shift starting next year to focus on the Cavite extension.
He said construction of the LRT-1 Cavite extension is expected to commence by first half of 2019, as substantial right of way was already granted for the first of three segments of the extension.
The 11.7-kilometer extension that will build eight new stations from Baclaran, Pasay City to Niog, Bacoor City is seen completed by late 2021 or early 2022. Mr. Alfonso said the difficulty in relocating posts of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) was the cause of delay.
“We’re still assuming the same costs… Later on, if some of these things have delays and increased costs, then there’s a mechanism in our agreement to deal with it… There’s going to be escalations in costs,” he added.
MPIC is one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group. — Denise A. Valdez
Central Luzon to become logistics hub with rail system
CENTRAL Luzon is seen to become a major logistics hub in the country after the Department of Transportation (DOTr) finishes the scheduled Philippine National Railways (PNR) railway projects.
DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade said during the recent Sulong Pilipinas 2018 Philippine Development Forum that the pre-construction of the Phase I of PNR Clark Railway started in January 2018 with actual construction scheduled in January 2019 and completion targeted by 2022.
“Phase I is a 38-km segment spanning from Tutuban (in Metro Manila) to Malolos City in Bulacan. It will have 10 stations and can accommodate up to 340,000 passengers per day,” Tugade said.
Phase II covers is a 53-km stretch from Malolos City to Clark, he added.
“The project is on detailed design stage and we will start the construction in May 2019 and completion targeted by 2022. It will have six stations and can accommodate 340,000 passengers per day as well,” Tugade said.
He said that the DOTr is now in the bidding process for the project, and the department will make sure that in two and a half or three years the rail system from Tutuban to Clark will be finished.
Meanwhile, construction of the Subic-Clark Cargo Railway will begin in 2019 and will be completed by 2022. The 70-km railway will connect Subic Port with Clark International Airport and other economic hubs in Luzon.
“When all of these projects will be accomplished, you can just imagine the logistics hub which we are trying to create in Central Luzon,” Tugade said.
“I feel that creating a logistics hub here can be a reality as it will be ideal because then, you will have an airport, a highway, a seaport, and a railway,” he said.
https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1776755/Pampanga/Local-News/Central-Luzon-to-become-logistics-hub-with-rail-system
DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade said during the recent Sulong Pilipinas 2018 Philippine Development Forum that the pre-construction of the Phase I of PNR Clark Railway started in January 2018 with actual construction scheduled in January 2019 and completion targeted by 2022.
“Phase I is a 38-km segment spanning from Tutuban (in Metro Manila) to Malolos City in Bulacan. It will have 10 stations and can accommodate up to 340,000 passengers per day,” Tugade said.
Phase II covers is a 53-km stretch from Malolos City to Clark, he added.
“The project is on detailed design stage and we will start the construction in May 2019 and completion targeted by 2022. It will have six stations and can accommodate 340,000 passengers per day as well,” Tugade said.
He said that the DOTr is now in the bidding process for the project, and the department will make sure that in two and a half or three years the rail system from Tutuban to Clark will be finished.
Meanwhile, construction of the Subic-Clark Cargo Railway will begin in 2019 and will be completed by 2022. The 70-km railway will connect Subic Port with Clark International Airport and other economic hubs in Luzon.
“When all of these projects will be accomplished, you can just imagine the logistics hub which we are trying to create in Central Luzon,” Tugade said.
“I feel that creating a logistics hub here can be a reality as it will be ideal because then, you will have an airport, a highway, a seaport, and a railway,” he said.
https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1776755/Pampanga/Local-News/Central-Luzon-to-become-logistics-hub-with-rail-system
LRT-1 Cavite extension may be delayed anew
The start of construction of the project extending Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) to Cavite may be delayed anew, according to its operator, who reckons that forgone revenues reached P400 million this year due to the stalled approval of its fare hike plea to the government.
Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) president and chief executive officer Juan Alfonso said preparations to commence construction of the LRT-1 Cavite extension project are ongoing, but there are chances that it may be moved to the second quarter of next year from the previous target of first quarter.
“I think by January it will be more clear when it will really start. A lot of the right of way issues have been resolved, but for example, there are utilities that still need to be relocated, so once those are fairly complete then we can start construction. The right of way is already there, but sometimes it is not free and clear so there are still obstacles that are being fixed right now,” Alfonso said.
“We have two targets. The first is the first quarter, and then if it cannot be done, then by the second quarter, depending on how fast the development is, most of which is right of way clearing. But definitely we’re targeting to start within the first half of 2019,” he added.
Once built, the extension will stretch LRT-1 over 33 kilometers, from Roosevelt in Quezon City to Niog in Bacoor City. Travel time from Bacoor to Central Station in Manila will be down to 45 minutes, and to Roosevelt Station in one hour and 10 minutes, even during rush hours.
Alfonso said target completion of the project is by the last quarter of 2021 or early 2022.
“Assuming the pathways are clear, we still have the chance to meet that target,” he said.
Right of way issues have hounded the project in the past, as it was supposed to have been completed by this time based on the original concession agreement in 2014.
Alfonso said LRMC has already secured a loan facility from various banks for the project’s funding and assured it would proceed even though the government has not acted on its pending fare hike appeal. “We’re hopeful we get the fare increase that we applied for last year, but no matter what the pace of that is, we already have commitments from our lenders. Hopefully we get the rate increase soon but even though it will not be granted, it’s a go. It’s going to happen,” he said.
According to Alfonso, estimated foregone revenues by LRMC due to the absence of the fare hike has reached P400 million for this year.
“That’s what we’re talking with them (government) right now, how to compensate for that. Our agreement calls for compensation if the fares are at certain level and is not raised, its in our agreement that there’s a fare deficit. We haven’t been compensated for fare deficits,” Alfonso said.
“It’s about P100 million a quarter. That was for 2018. There’s a P100 million difference in the revenue that we should have been getting with the increased fares versus what we got. The fares since 2015 should have been increased already,” he added.
Composed of Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd., the LRMC consortium was awarded the public-private partnership project to operate, maintain, and extend the LRT-1 in 2014.
Under the 32-year concession agreement, it is allowed to raise fares every two years. LRMC has asked the Department of Transportation for a P5 to P7 increase in LRT-1 fare.
https://www.philstar.com/business/2018/12/03/1873622/lrt-1-cavite-extension-may-be-delayed-anew
Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC) president and chief executive officer Juan Alfonso said preparations to commence construction of the LRT-1 Cavite extension project are ongoing, but there are chances that it may be moved to the second quarter of next year from the previous target of first quarter.
“I think by January it will be more clear when it will really start. A lot of the right of way issues have been resolved, but for example, there are utilities that still need to be relocated, so once those are fairly complete then we can start construction. The right of way is already there, but sometimes it is not free and clear so there are still obstacles that are being fixed right now,” Alfonso said.
“We have two targets. The first is the first quarter, and then if it cannot be done, then by the second quarter, depending on how fast the development is, most of which is right of way clearing. But definitely we’re targeting to start within the first half of 2019,” he added.
Once built, the extension will stretch LRT-1 over 33 kilometers, from Roosevelt in Quezon City to Niog in Bacoor City. Travel time from Bacoor to Central Station in Manila will be down to 45 minutes, and to Roosevelt Station in one hour and 10 minutes, even during rush hours.
Alfonso said target completion of the project is by the last quarter of 2021 or early 2022.
“Assuming the pathways are clear, we still have the chance to meet that target,” he said.
Right of way issues have hounded the project in the past, as it was supposed to have been completed by this time based on the original concession agreement in 2014.
Alfonso said LRMC has already secured a loan facility from various banks for the project’s funding and assured it would proceed even though the government has not acted on its pending fare hike appeal. “We’re hopeful we get the fare increase that we applied for last year, but no matter what the pace of that is, we already have commitments from our lenders. Hopefully we get the rate increase soon but even though it will not be granted, it’s a go. It’s going to happen,” he said.
According to Alfonso, estimated foregone revenues by LRMC due to the absence of the fare hike has reached P400 million for this year.
“That’s what we’re talking with them (government) right now, how to compensate for that. Our agreement calls for compensation if the fares are at certain level and is not raised, its in our agreement that there’s a fare deficit. We haven’t been compensated for fare deficits,” Alfonso said.
“It’s about P100 million a quarter. That was for 2018. There’s a P100 million difference in the revenue that we should have been getting with the increased fares versus what we got. The fares since 2015 should have been increased already,” he added.
Composed of Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd., the LRMC consortium was awarded the public-private partnership project to operate, maintain, and extend the LRT-1 in 2014.
Under the 32-year concession agreement, it is allowed to raise fares every two years. LRMC has asked the Department of Transportation for a P5 to P7 increase in LRT-1 fare.
https://www.philstar.com/business/2018/12/03/1873622/lrt-1-cavite-extension-may-be-delayed-anew
LRMC taps Commsec for upgrade of CCTV
Light Rail Manila Corp., a joint venture between Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., said it tapped Commsec Inc. for the P100-million upgrade of the CCTV system across the Light Rail Transit–Line 1 system.
“Commsec will install almost 500 high resolution surveillance cameras with increased storage capacity to ensure the safety and security of passengers and employees in and around LRT-1’s passenger stations, depot and other facilities,” LRMC president and chief executive Juan Alfonso said.
Alfonso added train drivers would benefit from a monitor plugged into multiple cameras pointed at each train door to ensure that doors safely close before the train leaves a station.
The CCTV system will also feature enhanced software that could count the number of passengers waiting for a train, check the entry of trespassers to unauthorized areas of the system, and help alert LRMC to suspicious objects lying unattended in a station.
“With the upgrade, which is estimated to take two years to complete, crowd monitoring will be more effective,” Alfonso said.
http://manilastandard.net/business/corporate/281952/lrmc-taps-commsec-for-upgrade-of-cctv.html
“Commsec will install almost 500 high resolution surveillance cameras with increased storage capacity to ensure the safety and security of passengers and employees in and around LRT-1’s passenger stations, depot and other facilities,” LRMC president and chief executive Juan Alfonso said.
Alfonso added train drivers would benefit from a monitor plugged into multiple cameras pointed at each train door to ensure that doors safely close before the train leaves a station.
The CCTV system will also feature enhanced software that could count the number of passengers waiting for a train, check the entry of trespassers to unauthorized areas of the system, and help alert LRMC to suspicious objects lying unattended in a station.
“With the upgrade, which is estimated to take two years to complete, crowd monitoring will be more effective,” Alfonso said.
http://manilastandard.net/business/corporate/281952/lrmc-taps-commsec-for-upgrade-of-cctv.html
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