I don’t know if Yolanda’s devastation spurred government to move its ass on vital infrastructure. The good news is: long awaited major infrastructure projects were finally approved by the NEDA Board last Thursday.
Five of the seven projects are DOTC projects.
LRT Line 1 South Extension Project with a total Cost of P64.9 billion. Yes, it is the same project whose bidding failed some months ago because DOTC so structured the rules to make it unattractive to potential PPP investors from the private sector.
That failed bidding had to happen to knock some sense into the heads of the bureaucrats who think it is a grievous sin for a private investor to make a profit on the massive investments required for the project. So, they worked out the terms of reference again in consultation with the private sector and these terms were the ones approved by NEDA last Thursday.
Now, they can re-bid the project with more enthusiastic participation from some of the biggest local conglomerates. DOTC Usec Timmy Limcaoco told me last Friday that they will open the bids in March next year and award it in the 3rd quarter.
This LRT-1 extension to various towns in Cavite has a long story of failure to award since the early 1990s. Hopefully, this time a proper award will be made.
The scope of the project involves the extension of the existing LRT Line 1 South. Currently, Line 1 covers 21 stations from Roosevelt Avenue to Monumento (north link) to Baclaran. The total length of service line is 20.7 kilometers. The extension project extends this service line by 11.7 kilometers covering 10 more stations and will pass through Parañaque and Las Piñas up to Bacoor, Cavite.
During a campaign sortie in Cavite last year, P-Noy told the Caviteños that he and DOTC Sec Jun Abaya, also a Caviteño, will have themselves run over by a train if the extension is not delivered by 2015. If P-Noy is true to his word, we may lose a President. Whatever they do, they cannot deliver LRT1 extension before P-Noy leaves office on June 30, 2016.
Also approved by the NEDA board is the long awaited MRT 7 Project. This is a new proposal from San Miguel Corp. that also has a colorful history of delay.
The project has a total cost of P62.7 billion. It involves the construction of a 22.8-kilometer rail system from North Avenue station in EDSA Quezon City, passing through Commonwealth Avenue, Regalado Avenue and Quirino Highway up to the proposed Intermodal Transportation Terminal (ITT) in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. This project will cover 14 stations.
This is an important mass transport project that will open up a sleepy part of Bulacan to faster development. Indeed, it will make the squatter relocation site in Sapang Palay attractive. MRT 7 will terminate in a common station in the Trinoma area where riders can transfer to MRT 3 or LRT1.
Usec Timmy told me the next step is the formal signing of the Performance Undertaking with San Miguel. Under the contract, San Miguel has 18 months to complete financial closure or get enough creditors to bankroll the project.
I understand P-Noy wants San Miguel to cut that 18 months to just six months or less. The question now is: does a seemingly overstretched San Miguel still have enough clout and credibility with creditors to complete financial closure quickly?
Ramon Ang also told me that they are now checking with their suppliers if the costs still hold after the long delay. RSA sounded confident he can manage this. We sure hope so.
Also approved is the LRT Line 1 North Extension Project – Common Station with a total cost of P1.4 billion. The project involves the provision of a common station among LRT 1, MRT 3 and MRT 7, as well as road-based transportation systems. Head to head platforms for LRT 1 and MRT 3 with a 147.4-meter elevated walkalator to MRT 7 at North Avenue will be constructed.
This is a long awaited project whose delay made the government look rather silly. The LRT-1 extension project from Balintawak to Trinoma was completed before Ate Glue bowed out of office. But they left the central station unfinished and it remained such for over three years now.
A commercial dispute on whether it should be located near The Annex at SM City North Edsa or Trinoma paralyzed government decision makers. Commuters had to go down at the Roosevelt station of LRT-1, take a ride in a jeepney or a tricycle for the kilometer or so to Trinoma to connect with MRT-3.
I understand Sec. Jun Abaya will return the P200 million the SM Group gave government to locate it near SM North Edsa. Experts say, putting it nearer SM is not the ideal location if we want easy access to MRT 3 and MRT-7. I am happy that finally, someone in government had the balls to make a decision on something so simple.
According to Usec Timmy, this will be bid out as a design and build contract by the 1Q next year, awarding by 3Q and construction to start 4Q.
Also approved by the NEDA board is the Mactan-Cebu International Airport New Passenger Terminal Project with a total cost of P17.5 billion. This is a PPP project whose bidding was delayed as proponents argued the terms of reference were unfriendly, like the LRT-1 extension to Cavite.
Having learned its lesson, DOTC conducted one-on-one meetings with those who signified interest in the project. It was a good learning experience for the lawyers on top of DOTC.
The scope of the project involves the construction in Mactan of a new passenger terminal, renovation of existing terminal, operation and maintenance of both the new and the existing passenger terminals during the entire concession period, and relocation of Philippine Air Force facilities.
Usec Timmy says bid submission is next week; award in January and turnover to winning bidder the operation of the existing terminal by July. Actual construction will start last quarter of 2014.
Also approved last Thursday by the NEDA board is the development of Transportation System at FTI and PRA under PPP or provincial bus terminals with a total cost of P7.7 billion (with cost of land); P6.1 billion (without cost of land).
The scope of the project is the development of two mass transportation terminals at the Southern outskirts of Metro Manila to be located at the following: South – SLEX Terminal at FTI Property in FTI Compound, Taguig City to serve passengers traveling to and from Laguna and Batangas and South – Coastal Road Terminal at PRA Property beside Asiaworld/Uniwide along Manila-Cavite Expressway (R-1) Expressway in Paranaque City to serve passengers traveling to and from Cavite.
There is urgency in this project as a traffic alleviation measure and DOTC is confident they will deliver this before June 2016.
There are other DOTC projects that are in various stages of the approval process or implementation. LRT2 extension to Masinag of four kilometers, will be delivered before P-Noy bows out of office, Usec Timmy promised.
Bids for detailed engineering and construction supervision submitted. The project is now ready for awarding. Expect to start construction by Q3 next year with target completion by Q2 2016.
Usec Timmy is also confident they can deliver the integrated ticketing on the various commuter rail systems by 2016.
DOTC, according to Usec Timmy, is also determined to get PNR to complete a Malolos to Calamba commuter rail system but this may have to be done in stages. The Malolos to Balintawak segment may be given priority inasmuch as the right of way of the defunct North Rail is ready for use.
Commuters using this segment can easily connect to LRT 1 at Balintawak to go south to Baclaran or East to Trinoma to further connect to MRT-3. The proposal, according to Usec Timmy is now with NEDA. They want to bid this out by the 4th quarter of next year.
On the other airports, they are working on improving Kalibo but nothing definite here even if it is an important airport that is a gateway to Boracay, our prime tourism destination. Puerto Princesa they promise to finish by 2016. The bid for Panglao in Bohol was published last week and Usec Timmy expects construction should start soon.
Airside (runway, etc) construction in Bicol International in Daraga, Albay is on-going and target completion is Q2 2016. For the landside or terminal building, notice of Award to be issued for detailed engineering and construction supervision with target start of construction: Q3 2014 and target end of construction: Q2 2016.
Tacloban airport is also in their list even before Yolanda. Now there is urgency to get it done.
I am skeptical they will meet their delivery targets. Bottlenecks in the processing of the projects through the bureaucracy could turn into a bottleneck in implementation. But the nice thing about writing off DOTC delivering anything is that if they do deliver something, it is a definite plus.
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco
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