Manila railway contract attracts 4 prospective bidders

MANILA, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Groups led by four of the Philippines' biggest holding companies have signalled interest in bidding for a contract to operate and maintain one of Manila's three ageing overhead railways, the government said.

Ahead of a Tuesday deadline, San Miguel Corp, in partnership with Korail, and a consortium of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc and SMRT Transport Solutions, a unit of SMRT Corp Ltd, submitted qualification documents to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

Also looking to bid are the DM Consunji Inc-Tokyo Metro Co Ltd group, and the Light Rail Manila 2 consortium led by Ayala Corp and Metro Pacific Investments Corp, according to state agency Public-Private Partnership Center.

The winning bidder will operate and maintain the 13.8-kilometre LRT Line 2 in the Philippine capital for 10 to 15 years, including future extension.

The DOTC is looking to announce qualified bidders in February. The actual bidding process is set for the second half of the year.

Separately, the DOTC said in a statement on Tuesday it awarded a 2.27 billion pesos ($52 million) contract to build the a 3.9-kilometre extension of LRT Line 2 to DM Consunji, a construction unit of conglomerate DMCI Holdings Inc.

(Reporting by Erik dela Cruz and Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)