10 February 2020, Manila, PHILIPPINES — Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC), the private operator of LRT-1, has transformed two (2) LRT-1 concrete pillars located between Central Station and Manila City Hall along Natividad-Lopez St. into green vertical gardens.
This vertical garden initiative, a first for the City of Manila, is in support of Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso’s planned 1,600 hectares of green space to make Manila’s environment healthy and livable again.
In a formal partnership signing held at the Manila City Hall today, LRMC President and CEO Juan Alfonso said, “As twelve out of the twenty stations of the LRT-1 pass through the City of Manila, LRMC is happy to work closely with the local government of Manila in implementing projects that push for sustainability and integrated mobility. We share the vision of Mayor Isko of a more vibrant, green, and improved City of Manila.”
LRMC, with the support of First Balfour–MRail, developed a metal frame around the LRT-1 pillars on which the vertical gardens have come up. The vertical gardens are made of assorted bird’s nest fern, manaog ka irog, and philodendron heartleaf. The plants are seen to help fight air pollution, as well as improve the aesthetic appeal of the concrete pillars. LRMC and the City of Manila through the Department of Tourism, Cultural, and Arts, will both share the responsibility of maintaining the plants in the vertical gardens.
According to Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, “I’m after clean air and lowering the carbon footprint. Air is difficult to keep clean, water –you can cure it, but the only way to clean our air is through nature.”
LRMC and the City of Manila are inviting other interested parties or sponsor companies to take the green initiative and join by funding the construction of more vertical gardens along the City of Manila using the first two LRT-1 posts as prototype.
and assorted philodendron heartleaf. The pillars are located near the rainbow pedestrian lane.
(ENDS)
LRMC is a joint venture company of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corporation (MPLRC), Ayala Corporation’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corporation (AC Infra), and the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd. (MIHPL). It assumed operations and maintenance of LRT-1 in September 2015 through a PHP 65-billion 32-year concession agreement with the Department of Transportation and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA).