Additional P7 billion budget needed for LRT-2 link to Port Area

The Light Rail Transit Authority needs  an additional P7-billion more to construct the LRT-2 West Extension Project.

When late president Benigno Aquino III approved it in 2015, the project was pegged at only P10.12 billion.

LRTA had planned on procuring the contractor for civil works in January 2020, but the government had to push this back to prioritize pandemic response.

Since then, LRTA has failed to obtain funding from the national budget for the extension project.

The LRT-2 West Extension Project will extend the railway by three kilometers to the west of the Recto Station.

It will add three stops to the line: Tutuban, Divisoria and Pier 4, in that order.

The project is crucial to addressing the interconnectivity gap in Metro Manila’s transit system by offering rail transport to North Harbor Pier 4. It will also bring commuters closer to the bargain districts of Divisoria and Tutuban, known for malls and shops that sell cheap items.

The LRT-2 West Extension Project will also cover the procurement of at least 20 light rail vehicles to boost the line’s capacity in ferrying passengers.

Once the extension is built, travel time between Recto and Pier 4 will be cut to just five minutes, while traveling from Antipolo to the Port Area will take less than an hour.

The LRT-2 West Extension Project is expected to add a daily ridership of 16,000 to the line that serves over 147,000 a day as of 2024.

Similarly, the LRTA is completing the feasibility study for a proposed extension to the east of LRT-2. The LRT-2 Cogeo Extension Project seeks to bring the railway to downtown Antipolo by adding three stops after the Antipolo Station.

The LRTA aims to wrap up the study this year so it can determine the volume of demand that the extension would bring. The study will also generate the final cost of building the project.

Overall, the DOTr is reviewing the costs of some of its big-ticket railways to consider the impact of delays and prepare supplementary funding.

The STAR earlier broke the story that the Metro Rail Transit Line 4 (MRT-4) now costs as much as P100 billion, from its initial estimate of P59.3 billion, due to design changes.

The DOTr scrapped its initial plan of designing the MRT-4 as a monorail, changing the project to a metro rail given the heavy volume of commuting demand in eastern metro.