LRT management denies cost overrun in Pasig-Cubao line

The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) denied yesterday the claims of Misamis Oriental Rep. Augusto Baculio that the accelerated construction of LRT Line-2 had caused a "cost overrun" of P267 million.

The LRTA said Baculio had been given erroneous information from which he called for an investigation of alleged irregularities at the said line, which will extend from Santolan, Pasig City to Recto Avenue in Manila.

It will be recalled that the government had conducted a "soft opening" of the Santolan to Cubao phase of the line last April 5, two months earlier than the original June 9 opening of the said phase.

Enrico Garcia, LRTA Line 2 project manager said the government even saved some P140 million in construction-related overhead costs when it accelerated the construction of the said rail line.

"The government was actually able to save P140 million in construction-related costs, contrary to Baculio’s claim," he said.

The LRTA official said that while the acceleration efforts entailed additional costs, the savings in construction "standby costs" and the additional revenues to be earned for operating the line ahead of schedule made up for this.

"Besides the big savings and revenues, the social benefits of operating the line ahead of schedule are unquestionable. Commuters will no longer have to travel for more than an hour to reach Cubao and Santolan, fight for jeepney rides with other travelers and suffer from pollution and the tension caused by heavy traffic," Garcia said.

"We will have a full and regular schedule starting on June 16 in time for the opening of classes where there will be a deluge of passengers, particularly students," Garcia assured.

LRTA officials explained that the LRT Line 2 construction had been hampered by delays due to right-of-way problems that cropped up in previous years prior to the administration of current LRTA administrator Teodoro Cruz Jr.

The delays resulted to a rescheduling of construction deadlines in certain phase of the line, with the Santolan to Cubao phase to be finished only on Dec. 31, 2003 that would have enabled contractor Asia Europe MRT consortium to charge LRTA P1.1 million a day ‘delay fine’ from June 10 to Dec. 31 or a total of P225.5 million.

With the acceleration of the project, LRTA spent additional money but expects to justify this by avoiding the huge delay costs.