LRT-1 Cavite extension completion seen

The Department of Transportation (DoTr) reported on Thursday that the overall progress rate of the Light Railway Transit 1 Cavite Extension Project has reached 61.60 percent as of last November.

“Once completed, this extension is expected to reduce travel time between Baclaran and Bacoor, Cavite to just 25 minutes, from one hour and 10 minutes, and increase LRT-1’s capacity from 500,000 to 800,000 passengers daily,” said the DoTr in a media statement.

The department said that after almost 20 years of delay, the project is now nearing completion after first being approved on 25 August 2000 by the National Economic and Development Authority Investment Coordination Committee or NEDA-ICC.

It was first given a budget by Congress in 2007 for right-of-way acquisition.

However, as of June 2016, not a single post has been built, and not a single train has even been, the department said.

“Further, zero percent of the required right-of-way has been certified ‘free and clear’ by the project’s independent consultant — a dismal status, considering that Congress gave budget for this as early as 2007,” the statement said.

But the DoTr under Secretary Arthur Tugade said that, on 1 September 2019, after catching up on right-of-way acquisition, as well as addressing a number of unresolved issues and constraints, actual construction commenced.