The Philippine Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has announced that four groups have submitted pre-qualification documents for the operation and maintenance (O&M) contract for Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2).

The four prospective bidders are the following::

• the Aboitiz - SMRT Transport Solutions consortium;
• DM Consunji Inc.-Tokyo Metro Co., Ltd. consortium;
• Light Rail Manila Holding 2 Inc.: Ayala Corporation and Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), RATP TRANSDEV Asia, and RATP Developpement SA; and
• SMC-KORAIL consortium.

Other groups that bought bid documents and did not submit qualification requirements are GT Capital Holdings Inc., Marubeni Corporation, APT Global Inc., and Globalvia.

The qualification documents shall be subject to the further evaluation of the DOTC Prequalification Bids and Awards Committee, after which the agency shall determine those that qualified to submit actual technical and financial proposals.

The winning bidder would operate and maintain the existing 13.8-kilometer LRT-2 from C. M. Recto Ave. in Avenida, Manila to Santolan in Pasig City with 11 stations as well as the proposed extension project covering an additional 4.19 kilometers and two stations all the way to Masinag in Antipolo City.

The winner would also operate and maintain other future extension of the LRT-2 system. The extension is expected to further increase the current 200,000 daily passenger volume of the mass transit system that traverses the cities of Manila, San Juan, Quezon City, Marikina and Pasig.

The total project investment is estimated at P9.7 billion (US$219.4 million).

Eight PPP projects have been awarded under the government's flagship infrastructure PPP program, so far:

• Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway Link Road;
• Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway;
• First phase of the PPP for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP);
• PSIP's second phase;
• Philippine Orthopedic Center modernization;
• Automatic Fare Collection System;
• Mactan-Cebu International Airport Passenger Terminal Building; and
• LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension Operation & Maintenance.

Eight others have been rolled out:

• Philippine airport package PPP project;
• Integrated Transport System (ITS) Project-Southwest Terminal;
• ITS Project-South Terminal;
• Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project;
• New Centennial Water Source Project;
• LRT Line 2 Operations and Maintenance (O&M) PPP project;
• Cavite and Laguna (CALA) Expressway PPP project;
• Laguna Lakeshore expressway and dike PPP project