Government wants to reduce its exposure in LRT 4

The government wants cut in half its exposure in the $1-billion Light Rail Transit 4.

During the first presentation of LRT 4’s original proponent, Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Undersecretary Wilfredo M. Trinidad, French consortium Systra, Bouygues and Sofretu, said the exposure of the government was "too big", at 70 percent of the civil works. No specific amounts were mentioned.

"They added the cost of the electro-mechanics and communications, which should not have been included. We will agree if they can lower the government exposure, if they can bring it down to 50 percent of the project," Trinidad said.

If the DOTC and the Systra-Bouygues-Sofretu consortium reach a compromise on the costing, LRT 4 will be presented to the National Economic and Development Authority for its second pass approval.

The NEDA-Investment Coordinating Council (NEDA-ICC) gave its first pass approval for LRT 4 back in the 90’s. The LRT 4 is a 22.6-kilometer railway system, which will run along Quezon Boulevard, from the Old Bilibid site in Lerma, España St. Manila, up to Batasan A, Quezon City. It will have a capacity to handle 550,000 passengers a day.

Financing issues had been the stumbling block of LRT 4, among others, sources noted. Its technical aspects has already been ironed out.

Its route lies within Metro Manila, a high traffic corridor with over one million passengers daily. In addition, the area for the construction of tracks is clear of squatters, with no Right of Way difficulties.

The LRT 4’s intersection point with the EDSA-Metro Rail Transit 3 has been sorted out, with Line 4 assigned to the third level. DOTC has already done the negotiation for the depot side.

The project is the Bouygues’ first big undertaking in the Philippines. The group has long been active in Asia Pacific, principally in Hong Kong and in Australia, where it constructed the mass transit link between the airport and the Olympic site.

Last year, President Arroyo instructed the DOTC to open the LRT 4 to challengers. However, the project still needs the second pass approval of NEDA and DOTC has to frame the terms of reference (TOR) for the project before it can be opened to challenge. Should a challenger come up within the year, the project may still be awarded by 2002.