Invest group seeks OK of biggest rail and road projects

A multinational group comprised of Filipino, French, American and Israeli investors has proposed the construction of LRT-7, a $1.3 billion road-rail project which aims to decongest Caloocan North, Novaliches and other parts of Quezon City and ease the transport woes throughout Metro Manila.

The project which was packaged by a group led by former Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo organized under the Universal LRT Corp. Limited will build a 17-km access road from Marilao to Tala which will become the first intermodal bus/parking and rail terminal in the city. This private access road will benefit passengers from Central and Northern Luzon who would disembark at the intermodal terminal and commute from there by elevated trains to anywhere in the city. Provincial buses would thus have no need to enter Metro Manila to unload their passengers, will reduce their cost and increase their revenues.

De Ocampo said that this biggest project of its kind under the Arroyo administration, will not entail any government subsidy nor will it require government direct guarantees to its lenders. Moreover the P70-billion project will be implemented under a new scheme, which the proponents dubbed as the Build-Graduate Transfer-Operate and Maintain (BGTOM), and it will revert to the government over a 25-year period.

Universal LRT Corp. Limited proposal means sharing the ridership risks and benefits with the government on an equitable basis according to De Ocampo, and its Philippine subsidiary will manage the facility for the government through a management contract.

The company is negotiating with the Philippine government to fast-track the project so that construction will start in 2003.

Aside from De Ocampo, who chairs the company, the others involved in the Project are Alstom of France, one of the world’s foremost leaders in transportation systems, Tyco Group of the USA, the Yuchengco Group of the Philippines, El International Holdings Group, and others.