Meralco needs P14-billion to relocate 10,000 poles along five railway projects

Power retailer Manila Electric Co. said it needs to relocate more than 10,000 electric poles at a cost of P14.155 billion to pave the way for the construction of five railway projects of the Department of Transportation.

“Our initial ballpark estimate is for us to be able to relocate all the affected poles in all these five priority projects of the DOTr, we will be needing P14.1 billion.  There’s a cost-sharing between Meralco [30 percent] and DOTr [70 percent],” Meralco senior vice president Ronnie Aperocho said.

About P9.916 billion of the relocation cost will be charged to DOTr, while P4.239 billion will be charged to Meralco as project cost, subject to approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission.

The rail projects include the 12.6-kilometer PNR North 2 project (390 poles), 38.2-km PNR North 1 project (1,395 poles), 25-km Metro Manila Subway project (238 poles), 56-km PNR South Commuter Railway project (1,884 poles) and the 208-km PNR South Long Haul project (6,435 poles).

“This estimate is based on preliminary cost design estimate and for budgetary purposes…to agree to shoulder adjustment costs based on actual relocation costs,” Aperocho said.

Aperocho said a memorandum of agreement was being finalized for the pole relocation to avoid major issues and potential sources of disputes.

Aperocho said Meralco was also working on the relocation of poles affected by several infrastructure projects under the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program.

These projects include Light Rail Transit Line 2 2 East Extension, Skyway Stage 3, MNTC Segment 10, LRT 1 Cavite Extension, Metro Rail Transit Line 7, C5 Southlink and Cavite-Laguna Expressway

“All the other slow-moving projects are because of the delay in the acquisition of ROW [right of way] for us to ahead with the execution,” he said.

Meralco senior vice president Alfredo Panlilio said the company needed to file applications with the ERC for the approval of the relocation cost to be shouldered by the utility.

“The portion of Meralco is for load growth. Since we are constructing especially some underground, we have proposed to include it already that’s why we are shouldering a portion,” he said.

Meralco is the country’s biggest power distributor with over six million customers in its franchise area.

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ROW problems to delay start of NLEX connector project

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) unit NLEX Corp. said it may be able to start with the construction of the North Luzon Expressway - South Luzon Expressway (NLEX-SLEX) connector road project only in the first quarter of next year due to unforeseen delays in right-of-way or ROW acquisitions.

In a briefing last Friday, NLEX Corp. president and chief executive officer Rodrigo Franco said while ROW acquisitions are moving, these are not yet complete, preventing the company from jumpstarting the project.

“The ROW is still ongoing for the connector. We need substantial ROW to start the construction,” Franco said.

He conceded that it is really more difficult to complete ROW acquisitions in Metro Manila because land is more expensive. At least 50 percent of the needed ROWs have been acquired.

The company expects to start construction early next year because of the delay in ROW acquisition, a responsibility of the Department of Public Works and Highways. 

But Franco said the process is moving and they hope to see more substantial ROW acquisitions by the end of the year to be able to start construction early next year.

Once the company is able to commence construction early next year, it hopes to complete the project by the end of 2021.

With a cost of P23.3 billion, the NLEX-SLEX connector road project is an eight-kilometer, all elevated four-lane toll expressway which would extend the NLEX southward from the end of Segment 10 in C3 Road Caloocan City to PUP Sta. Mesa, Manila and connect to the Skyway Stage 3, mostly traversing the Philippine National Railways’ track.

It will include two interchanges located at C3 Road in Caloocan and España in Manila.

It’s been touted by Public Works Secretary Mark Villar as a crucial infrastructure project that would decongest Metro Manila by providing cargo trucks their own highway.

It would likewise help stimulate development in Manila, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and surrounding areas.

Once completed, the project is expected to benefit at least 35,000 motorists per day.

It is expected to cut travel time from SLEX to NLEX to 20 minutes from two hours, as well as from Clark to Calamba to one hour and 40 minutes from approximately three hours.

The MVP Group was hoping to have formal turnover of the sites in June, but ROW acquisitions have delayed the process.

Aside from the NLEX-SLEX connector road project, MPIC is building other tollways such as the Cavite-Laguna Expressway, NLEX-Harbor Link Segment 10, C-5 South Link ,and Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway.

At present, MPIC operates the following tollways: NLEX, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, and the Manila Cavite Toll Expressway.

In addition to tollways, MPIC is into other businesses such as water, power, hospitals, railways, and logistics.


Read more at https://www.philstar.com/business/2018/08/06/1839929/row-problems-delay-start-nlex-connector-project#ygwKQpbyhOiJ64OW.99

DOTr approval of LRT1 fare hike still hangs

Plans to increase fares for Line 1 of the Light Rail Transit (LRT 1) might not push through this August as the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has yet to conduct a public hearing on the matter.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade on Wednesday said his agency had yet to approve Light Rail Management Corp.’s (LRMC) petition for a P5 to P7 fare increase.

“[We] haven’t agreed to it yet (because there must be) a consultation first,” Tugade said in a press conference.

The LRMC filed a fare hike petition in March, citing the need to maintain the quality of its service and recoup some P8 billion in improvement costs incurred since 2014.

Under its concession agreement with the government, LRMC will run and maintain the existing LRT 1 and construct a P65-billion, 11.7-km extension from Baclaran, Parañaque City, to Niog, Bacoor City, Cavite province.

It also allows LRMC to request an automatic fare adjustment every two years. —Krixia Subingsubing

Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1016833/dotr-approval-of-lrt1-fare-hike-still-hangs#ixzz5N7X3srIN
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Right-of-way issues plague NLEX-SLEX connector road, says contractor

Delays in resolving right-of-way problems have hindered Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. from starting the construction of a tollroad connecting the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and South Luzon Expressway (SLEX).

The tollroads unit of conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. bagged the contract to build the P23-billion NLEX-SLEX connector road in September 2016, but no actual work has been started due to right-of-way issues.

On the part of government, right-of-way acquisitions are ongoing, MPTC president and CEO Francisco Franco said on Thursday.

“But it’s not yet within the delivery period of the government,” Franco told reporters in a press briefing in Makati City.

The Department of Public Works and Highway is targeting to deliver all right-of-way aspects of the project by May 2019.

Franco said the company cannot commence any construction because a “substantial” number of right-of-way issues must first be resolved.

Only 50 percent has been closed by the government in terms of right-of-way acquisitions.

“We’re projecting, hopefully by the end of the year, that there will be substantial right-of-way for us to start construction by the first quarter of next year,” Franco noted.

“What’s important for us is the continuity of the construction. We don’t want to have a stop-and-go construction scheme that will compound the project cost,” he said.

The NLEX-SLEX connector road is 8 kilometers, elevated, and with four lanes. The expressway extends the NLEX southward from the end of Segment 10 along C3 Road Caloocan City to PUP Sta. Mesa, Manila and connects to the Skyway Stage 3, mostly along the Philippine National Railways track.

The project includes two interchanges on C3 Road in Caloocan and on España Boulevard in Manila. —VDS, GMA News

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/companies/662777/right-of-way-issues-plague-nlex-slex-connector-road-says-contractor/story/

SMC’S proposed TPLEx extension to Ilocos Sur now under assessment

PUBLIC WORKS and Highways Secretary Mark A. Villar on Wednesday said his office has already received the complete proposal of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) for the extension of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) tollroad to Ilocos Sur.

“They submitted the proposal. We’re in the process of analyzing the effect (if there is a need for changes in the technical aspect,” Mr. Villar said in a press briefing at the Palace.

The DPWH chief said the assessment period should not take too long because the proposal simply involves a continuation of the existing toll road, with the endpoint in Rosario, La Union expected to be completed by next year.

The unsolicited proposal will have to go through a review by the engineers of the Public-Private Partnership Service office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The TPLEx extension also requires an original proponent certification from the DPWH, and an approval from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

It would then be subjected to a Swiss challenge, where other interested firms may submit counterproposals. — Arjay L. Balinbin

http://www.bworldonline.com/smcs-proposed-tplex-extension-to-ilocos-sur-now-under-assessment/

LRT-1 fare hike may be delayed

THE DEPARTMENT of Transportation (DoTr) said the target implementation of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) fare hike this month, as proposed by operator Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), may not push through as public consultations still need to be conducted.

Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said the department will have to hear the position of other stakeholders before assessing and making a decision on the LRMC petition.

LRMC filed a P5 to P7 fare increase petition in March, the second time it applied since the company took over the train system in September 2015.

The current fare in LRT-1 is P15, P20 and P30, depending on distance travelled. No fare hike has been implemented since January 2015.

In a text message to BusinessWorld, LRMC Corporate Communication head Rochelle A. Gamboa said current operations will not be affected if the fare hike petition will not be granted this August.

“We will continue to operate and remain hopeful that Concession Agreement will be honored,” she said.

“For now, we would just comply with the process. LRTA (Light Rail Transit Authority) Board has yet to conduct a public consultation,” she added.

Part of the government’s concession agreement with LRMC is a 5% increase in LRT-1 fares every two years and the extension of the train line from Baclaran to Bacoor, Cavite.

LRMC President Juan F. Alfonso, in a briefing in May, said, “Under the concession agreement, for example hindi mabigay yung fare increase, government yung magsa-subsidize nung P5 (if we are not granted the fare increase, the government would have to subsidize the P5).”

Mr. Tugade said on Wednesday that he certainly would not want the government to subsidize anything.

“I really do not want that government subsidy. When a proponent wants to enter a business, they should be capable,” he said in Filipino.

The transportation secretary also said that the extension of the LRT-1 to Cavite, Bacoor should not depend on the approval of LRMC’s fare hike petition.

LRMC said in a statement on July 12 that the fare hike is essential to push through with the Cavite extension plans for LRT-1.

“A P5 increase in LRT1 fare will assure the construction of its extension to Sucat, Las Piñas and Bacoor, allowing at least 300,000 of residents each day to get to and from home in just minutes from Baclaran without traffic,” it said.

Construction work for the P2.874-billion Cavite extension was originally scheduled to begin in October, and will take four years to complete. It will add eight new stations, namely: Redemptorist, NAIA Avenue, Asia World, Ninoy Aquino, Dr. Santos, Las Piñas, Zapote and Niog.

LRMC is the consortium of Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd.

Metro Pacific Investment Corp. 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.

PNR reopens Caloocan to Makati rail line

Twenty years after closing the Philippine National Railways (PNR) line from Caloocan to Dela Rosa in Makati, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) yesterday reopened the commuter service as part of the government’s initiative to revive the country’s rail system.

The Caloocan-Dela Rosa line is the fastest and most cost-efficient means of transportation from Caloocan to Makati, with running time of 37 minutes.

It was shut down sometime in 1997, as part of it was supposed to be utilized for the Northrail Project; however, much of the rail tracks lay unused.

Furthermore, “The Caloocan line segment was a departmental track which PNR used between the Tutuban and Caloocan workshops,” explained PNR General Manager Junn Magno.

“It was heavily damaged because of water intrusion, so we repaired the track back to common carrier grade. The Light Rail Transport Authority (LRTA) offered old ballast material in May, 2018. We used that to rebuild the track.”

“Then the Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC) offered to haul it out of LRTA Pasay Yard. When things were in place we began refurbishing the old stations,” he added.

During yesterday’s soft opening, PNR deployed six trains with a total capacity of 700 to 800 to accommodate an expected 10,000 passengers.

Now, the first trip from Caloocan to Dela Rosa leaves at 5:45 a.m., while the last trip from Caloocan is at 5:15 p.m.

From Dela Rosa to Caloocan, the first trip leaves at 6:28 a.m., while the last trip is at 5:58 p.m.

The initial 13-km route run stops at 10th Avenue (Macario Asistio), 5th Avenue, Solis, Blumentritt, España, Sta. Mesa and Dela Rosa stations.

PNR set the minimum fare at P12 for non-aircon coaches and P15, for aircon.

The Caloocan-Dela Rosa, Makati Line shall be operational until the full blast construction of the PNR Manila-Clark Railway line.

PNR sought to rebuild the tracks to gradually transfer material away from the Caloocan workshops, to pave the way for the North-South Commuter Railway or the PNR North 1, which will run from Tutuban in Manila to Malolos in Bulacan.

The project broke ground in January this year, according to GM Magno.

“This is a good initiative from PNR,” says DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade.

“We will not just add, but also rehabilitate. We wanted to move fast, but at the same time, we had to ensure we’re not missing out on any possible solution. This is a good opportunity to make use of what is already there. This is added service to the public and additional earnings for the government,” he concluded. (EVA)

https://business.mb.com.ph/2018/08/01/pnr-reopens-caloocan-to-makati-rail-line/

Metro Manila subway construction to begin this year: Tugade

The construction of the Metro Manila subway, the biggest project under the government’s "Build, Build, Build" program, will begin this year, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade said Wednesday.

Tugade said the original start of the subway project is in 2019 but “this was expedited upon the agreement of the parties”.

Last March, the Philippine and Japan governments signed a loan agreement for the Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP) with the initial tranche amounting to JPY104.53 billion (USD935 million).

“We are still on track. We are starting the groundbreaking and formal construction by the end of the year,” Tugade said in a Palace press briefing.

Tugade said the construction will start at partial operability covering three stations -- North Avenue, Mindanao Avenue and Tandang Sora.

“This includes the construction of what we called the Railway Institute and depot in Valenzuela. All of this we are planning to start not later than December of the last quarter of this year,” he said.

During the signing of the loan agreement, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said Phase 1 of the 25-kilometer underground railway has an estimated cost of PHP356.96 billion (USD7.05 billion) and will have a total of 14 stations from Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Paranaque City.

He said the initial operation of the MMSP is targeted to start by 2022 while the full operation of the Phase 1 has been set for 2025.

Meanwhile, Tugade said the actual bidding for the construction of the Mindanao Railway will have a slight delay due to some changes he introduced in the project.

Tugade said the specifications of the Mindanao railway project should be the same with the railways in Central Luzon, where railways are double track, electric, not diesel-powered and should not be narrow standard.

“Having done this, there will be additional cost in Mindanao but that is a good addition. There will be slight delay but that is a good delay because the quality of the railroad track will be like in Central Luzon,” he explained.

Tugade said the groundbreaking of the Mindanao Railway project will depend on the signing of the loan agreement between the Philippines and China. (PNA)

PNR reopens Caloocan to Makati route

The Philippine National Railways said it reopened its train service from Caloocan City to Dela Rosa Street in Makati City, 20 years after it was closed to the public.

“This is a good initiative from PNR. We will not just add, but also rehabilitate,” Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said.

The Caloocan-Dela Rosa line is the fastest and most cost-efficient means of transportation along the 13-kilometer route, with running time of 37 minutes. It was shut down in 1997. A part of it was supposed to be utilized for the Northrail project, but much of the rail tracks were unused.

PNR general manager Junn Magno said the revival of the line segment was through the effort and cooperation of several agencies.

“The Caloocan line segment was a departmental track used by PNR between the Tutuban and Caloocan workshops. It was heavily damaged because of water intrusion, so we embarked to repair the track back to common carrier grade. The LRTA [Light Rail Transit Authority] offered old ballast material in May 2018; we used that to rebuild the track. Then the MNTC [Manila North Tollways Corp.]  offered to haul it out of LRTA Pasay Yard. When things were in place, we began refurbishing the old stations,” Magno said.

Magno said the original intent of rebuilding the track was to slowly transfer material away from the Caloocan workshops, in preparation of the North-South Commuter Railway or the PNR North 1, which will run from Tutuban in Manila to Malolos in Bulacan.

The project broke ground in January this year. Meanwhile, the Transportation Department decided to use the remaining track time to generate revenues at the same time serving the Caloocan-Makati corridor.
 
Six trains with a total capacity of 700 to 800 were deployed during the soft-opening today, to accommodate an expected 10,000 passengers.

The first trip from Caloocan to Dela Rosa leaves at 5:45 a.m., while the last trip from Caloocan is at 5:15 p.m. From Dela Rosa to Caloocan, the first trip leaves at 6:28 a.m., while the last trip is at 5:58 p.m.

The initial 13-km route run will stop at 10th Avenue (Macario Asistio), 5th Avenue, Solis, Blumentritt, España, Sta. Mesa and Dela Rosa stations. Minimum fare is P12 (non-aircon) and P15 (aircon).

The Caloocan-Dela Rosa, Makati Line will remain operational until the construction of the PNR Manila-Clark Railway line goes at full blast.

Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway: Construction photos (July 2018)