Development
On April 24, 2012, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) and Ayala Corporation launched a partnership after both companies signed a memorandum of understanding.[9]
In November 2012, the consortium was cleared to proceed with the bidding process along with three other companies.[10] However, in 2013, the three other companies withdrew from the bidding. In August 2013, Ayala Corporation also dropped out of the consortium, leaving Metro Pacific as the lone bidder.[11] MPIC's bid was later declared as non-compliant, causing the bidding process to fail.[12]
The consortium once again submitted a bid on May 28, 2014.[13] Despite public opposition that the privatization may result in an increase in fares for the LRT Line 1,[14] on September 12, 2014, the Department of Transportation and Communications and the Light Rail Transit Authority awarded the project to the consortium.[15] The concession agreement was signed on October 2,[16] and the consortium took over the Line 1 operations on September 12, 2015.[4][3][17] Under the ₱65 billion 32-year concession agreement with the Department of Transportation and Light Rail Transit Authority, the company is mandated to carry out the rehabilitation of Line 1 as well as to provide 120 new train coaches to the system.[4] The concession also includes the ₱35 billion South Extension Project or Cavite Extension Project of the Line 1 to Niog station in Cavite which officially begun construction on May 7, 2019, after several years of delay due to right-of-way issues, as well as the north extension to the North Avenue Grand Central station in Quezon City whose exact location was settled in 2016 and which broke ground in September 2017.[3][18][19]
Light Rail Manila Corporation's parent companies Metro Pacific Investments Corporation and Ayala Corporation have earlier been awarded the tap-and-go fare payment system project for all three rail transit lines in Metro Manila, the Beep smart card rolled out in July 2015 through another joint venture in AF Payments Inc. (another Ayala company[2]), as well as the automated fare collection system project which was rolled out in December 2015.[4] The parent companies also proposed a bid for the operations and maintenance of the LRT Line 2, and the ₱171 billion North–South Railway Project of the Philippine National Railways which included the rehabilitation and operation of the 478 km railway.[4] The Line 2 privatization would later be shelved, while the North–South Railway Project would later be funded by foreign loans as two separate projects: the North–South Commuter Railway and the PNR South Long Haul.
