Eight local and foreign companies are vying for the P30-billion contract to supply 120 brand-new light rail vehicles for the oldest metro rail transit in Southeast Asia.
The Transportation Department identified the eight bidders for the Light Rail Transit Line 1 contract as Metro Builders Corp., Construcciones y Auxilliar de Ferrocariles of Spain, GE Corp. of the US, Sojitz Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., Marubeni Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. of Japan and Hyundai Rotem of South Korea.
“Bidding will be conducted through procedures in accordance with the applicable guidelines for procurement under Japanese ODA loans and is open to all bidders from eligible source countries as define in the loan agreement,” the agency said.
The Transportation Department said the eligible nationality of the suppliers should be Japanese in case of the prime contractor and all countries and areas in case of the sub-contractors.
The winning bidder will cover the coaches design, production, verification, delivery, testing, commissioning, technical support materials associated with the operation and maintenance of the vehicles and training for maintenance staff, engineers and operators.
The agency said the submission and opening of bids would take place on April 13.
The 120 LRVs will be configured into 30 four-car train sets to allow the rail line to accommodate up to 750,000 passengers daily.
The Transportation Department in March last year declared the bidding for 120 LRVs a failure after no offers were received by the agency from Japanese companies.
Marubeni and Sumitomo earlier expressed interest to participate in the auction for the procurement of 120 brand-new cars for LRT Line 1.
The government allocated P30 billion for the 120 new coaches for the LRT Line 1 under the P64.9-billion LRT Line 1 Cavite extension project, which was awarded to Light Rail Manila Corp.
LRMC will construct the Cavite extension over the next four and a half years, making the entire line operational by the fourth quarter of 2020.
LRMC, a joint venture between Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., has been operating and maintaining the existing LRT-1 system since the functions were handed over by Light Rail Transit Authority in September 2016.
LRTA remains the regulator of the railway while the Transportation Department is the implementing agency of the 32-year public-private partnership concession agreement with LRMC.
The consortium would spend over P40 billion to rehabilitate and expand LRT Line 1.
Eight new stations will be provided with three intermodal facilities across Pasay City, Parañaque City, Las Piñas City and Cavite.