Philippines, Japan set signing of MRT-3 rehab loan

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and Japan are set to proceed early next month with the signing of a loan agreement for the rehabilitation of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) after facing months of delay.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said the exchange of notes and loan agreement between the Philippines and Japan would be signed in early November, ahead of the upcoming meeting of the Philippines-Japan High Level Joint Committee on Infrastructure and Economic Development in Manila scheduled middle of next month.

Japan will provide the country ¥38.1 billion in official development assistance for the rehab of the ailing rapid transport system.

The DOTr was earlier targeting to ink the loan agreement in August or the middle of September at the latest, but Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade cited timing and the China-made Dalian trains as reasons to why the signing did not push through as originally targeted.

With the signing of the loan agreement, Japan’s Sumitomo and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are also seen commencing next month with the rehabilitation and overhaul of the 18-year old MRT-3.

Transportation Undersecretary for railways Timothy John Batan said the contract with Sumitomo and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as the rehabilitation and maintenance service provider of the MRT-3 covers 43 months, in which 26 months would be dedicated to rehabilitation and the rest to complete the overhaul.

“That timeline is already aggressive. Our target is to maintain the current 15 trains running at the height of the rehabilitation,” he said. 

Batan said a contingent of Sumitomo and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries engineers have been in the MRT-3 Depot daily for advance transition works since Oct. 15.

“Our problem with MRT-3 is not only the lack of trains, which is expected to be solved by the additional Dalian trains. We also have a problem with the old trains, rails, signaling, and many more. We have a lot to fix. That is why we are getting as the single-point-of-responsibility service provider is the one who originally designed and constructed the MRT-3,” Batan said.

MRT-3, which covers North Ave. station in Quezon City until Taft station in Pasay City, started operating in 2000 and the first round of general overhaul was completed by Sumitomo in 2008.