Demonstrating how there is much respect between Japan and the Philippines is the recent decision of the Philippine government to exclusively choose Japan as the party to help build the Light Rail Transit line, as well as source out the trains that would elevate public transportation at a much higher level of quality in the Metro Manila area.
The most current acquisition of 120 brand new coaches for the Baclaran-Roosevelt line has finally materialized. And the future track that would extend to Bacoor, Cavite is now underway. Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya has seen to it that Japan will be the solid partner they can rely on to build this for future generations to come.
The Philippine government also made sure the bidding was exclusively held for companies from Japan. The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has also stepped to help out. Though the Cavite extension will complete by the fourth quarter of 2020, the Light Rail Manila Consortium has already set clear expectations of the excellent quality or service that will await with the partnership with Japanese companies.
The winning bidder for the new coaches will have three years to completely delivery the new light rail vehicles. These were expected to be delivered in two tranches, the first one being in 2017 and the second tranche by 2018.
Since Japan is known for its cutting-edge technology regarding trains and train systems, the Philippine government truly has high expectations on the quality that these new coaches will have to make the commute for every Filipino as efficient and as pleasant as possible.
The group that will lead the 32-year public-private partnership of running the rails are Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings, (Philippines), PTE, Ltd.
Truly, the LRT Project with JICA is indeed good news and a clear example of how favorable both countries are not, including building each other’s economy and nation.
