MANILA, PHILIPPINES: The Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) expects revenues to rise this year but the sales of the government-owned rail operator will still book losses as it continues to pare down its debts.

LRTA administrator Mel Robles said the projected revenue is estimated at P2.8 billion, a forecast made without the planned fair hike this year. Non-rail revenue, or cash flow from space rentals of kiosks and stores operating in LRTA stations, is seen to reach P145 million.

"We will still post a loss because we're paying interest charges for our loans. We are still servicing loans contracted in the construction of Lines 1 and 2," Mr. Robles said.

He said the debt service for 2005 stands between P3.3 billion and P3.4 billion, inclusive of principal payments.

LRTA revenues in 2004 stood at P1.663, higher than the P1.261 billion it made in the previous year.

Mr. Robles said ticket sales last year climbed with additional revenues coming from Line 2, which started full operations from Santolan in Pasig City to Recto in Manila in October 2004.

He added that the LRTA may have to adjust its projections when it starts implementing a fare increase some time this year.

Under the revised fare matrix approved by the LRTA board last year, the minimum rate for both LRT1 and LRT2 will remain at P12.

In LRT1, the minimum fare will be good for the first four stations and an increment of P1 will be collected for each succeeding station.

In LRT2, the P12 fare is good for the first two stations, plus P2 for each of the next four stations and P1 for the succeeding stations.

Meanwhile, alleged anomalies in the implementation of the Line 2 project by the LRTA has prompted a legislator in the House of Representatives to call for a congressional investigation into the project.

Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter S. Cayetano said the bidding process for Line 2's management information system or MIS and station signages were rigged, while orders changing the design specifications of Line 2 cost the government tens of millions of pesos.

Mr. Cayetano, armed with documents when he met reporters yesterday, claimed the three bidders for the MIS project were not separate but were "intimately connected" companies.

Two of these bidders, REACH/Delta Bridge and Easy Net Services, shared the same offices. REACH/Delta, Easy Net and the third bidder, MECO Industries, also "shared" the same officers, he said.

Mr. Cayetano claimed that a Katherine David was project head of MECO, was director for Web development of REACH/Delta, and was director, operations manager and stockholder of Easy Net. An Evangeline Navarro was the managing director of Delta Bridge and stockholder and general manager of Easy Net, Mr. Cayetano added. A Debbie Chua and a David C. Chua shared the same address but Ms. Chua was director of MECO while Mr. Chua was director and corporate secretary of Easy Net, the solon said.

He said the quotations submitted by the three bidders were overpriced. REACH/Delta won the bid with its offer of $1.3 million for the MIS project, but an independent canvass by Cenex Info System, an IBM partner, showed that the offer was overpriced by $620,000.

The original budget for station signages, he also claimed, was only P11.75 million but a variation order jacked up the price to P33.18 million. The project was also awarded to Econlite, whose managing director, a Peter Kwong, was also the in-house signage designer of the LRTA.

Variation orders in the design of Line 2 -- ranging from changing of tiles, redesign of a viaduct, redesign of an elevator landing, design change of mechanical and electrical works -- tremendously increased Line 2 construction costs.

Mr. Cayetano said these variation orders provided the "doors and windows of corruption" in LRTA.

A purchase of a vehicular grinding machine was also anomalous. Mr. Cayetano said the grinding machine, purchased during the term of LRTA administrator Teddy Cruz, was overpriced by $1.066 million (the final price was $3.297 million when the original price was $2.23 million).

Contacted by BusinessWorld, Mr. Robles said Mr. Cayetano's allegations all took place before his term.

"These happened before me, but I will fully cooperate with Mr. Cayetano, and will provide the documents if needed," he said. "I join him in his crusade of ridding the LRTA of corrupt practices."

Mr. Robles added that LRTA is also conducting its own investigation into anomalies within LRTA.

Source:
http://bworldonline.com/current/CorporateWorld/corpstory3.html