A YouTube video claims that the Light Rail Transit 1 (LRT-1) Cavite extension project will be completed and operational this year. This needs context.
Only the first phase of the project which will extend the current LRT-1 line from Pasay to Parañaque is set to open by the last quarter of 2024.
Uploaded on May 14, the video carried the following text in its thumbnail:
“LRT-1 CAVITE EXTENSION. GOOD NEWS. WOW! Aarangkada na ngayong taon (Will start operations this year)!”
Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), a private consortium that operates LRT-1, said last March that Phase 1 of the project is already 97% complete and is set to open before the year ends.
Construction of the LRT-1 Cavite extension project is divided into three phases.
Phase 1 would extend the line by 6.2 kilometers from its current terminus at Baclaran Station. This covers five new stations in Parañaque: Redemptorist, MIA, Asia World, Ninoy Aquino and Dr. Santos.
Meanwhile, Phases 2 and 3 will span 6.6 kilometers and would further extend the line to Bacoor, Cavite with three new stations in Las Piñas, Zapote and Niog.
LRMC said they are aiming to complete the entire project by 2027 but noted that this would depend on right of way (ROW) acquisitions. The Department of Transportation, which handles that process, is yet to turnover the ROW for the project’s remaining segments.
Initially pegged at P64.92 billion, the LRT-1 Cavite Extension began construction in 2019 under former President Rodrigo Duterte’s Build, Build, Build program. Phase 1 was originally slated for completion in 2022 but was delayed due to COVID-19 lockdowns, costing an additional P4 billion.
The project is currently part of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Build Better More program. It is funded through Japanese loans and a public-private partnership scheme.
Uploaded by previously fact-checked YouTube channel ChikoyTV with 90,500 subscribers, the video has drawn 4,412 interactions.
