Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) sees the construction of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) Cavite Extension moving forward with fewer hurdles following the Villar family’s donation of land to the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
MPIC Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the development will allow Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), a subsidiary of the infrastructure conglomerate, to continue building the extension of the train system.
‘I think it will help out the population in the outlying areas if you have good public transportation because the jobs are here in Manila, right?’ Pangilinan said.
He said better connectivity would allow people living farther from major employment centers to access jobs without shouldering the higher costs of living closer to their workplaces.
‘When you build it close to the jobs, you save on expenses. But you need to have a good public transportation.’
The Villar family’s land donation to the DOTr is intended to support infrastructure for the LRT-1 Cavite Extension, which expands rail connectivity south of Metro Manila.
The extension is expected to improve access between Cavite communities and the capital, giving commuters an alternative to road-based transportation and potentially reducing the time and cost of daily travel.
LRMC is a joint venture of MPIC’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Sumitomo Corp., and Macquarie Investments Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd.
The consortium won the concession to operate and maintain LRT 1 in September 2015 through a P65-billion 32-year concession agreement with the Department of Transportation and the Light Rail Transit Authority. Under the deal, LRMC will operate and maintain the existing rail line and will expand it further up to Niog in Cavite. So far, it has extended the system up to Dr. Santos in Sucat, Paranaque.
Last month, the DOTr said the Villar family is willing to donate land for the LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension, effectively clearing the right-of-way hurdle that has stalled the project’s completion.
‘The Villar family wants to donate their land,’ Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said, dismissing reports that right-of-way acquisition remains a problem for the rail line’s southern extension.
The commitment removes what had been considered a major obstacle to the timely delivery of the project, which the Light Rail Transit Authority has committed to complete before the end of the Marcos administration’s term in 2028.