The images where the Philippines' oldest light railway transit on fire was what private sector bidders fear most before giving their money to rehabilitate the  infrastructure with a price tag of USD1.4 billion. The fire, which occurred last week was said to have been caused by a short circuit igniting power cables lining the tracks.

The fire was the second in Manila's elevated rail system in two months and are clear indicia of the need to upgrade Southeast Asia's first light rail transit system. The reliability of the outdated rail system, which is currently operating without a government warranty on performance with high penalties for delays, is one of the reasons for the failed bidding for the expansion and upgrade of LRT1. The said project is said to be the biggest of the public-private partnerships or PPP, worth approximately USD4 billion. The project is one of many the Philippine government is offering to help boost growth in one of the world's fastest growing economies.

The remaining bidder is Metro Pacific Investments Corp, who submitted a conditional bid without its partner Ayala Corp. Three others prequalified, namely DMCI who is partnering with Marubeni Corp, SMC Infrastructure and MTD-Samsung C&T consortium. The latter three backed out due to various reasons.