Metro Pacific Investments Corporation’s MRT-3 proposal still alive

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation has confirmed that Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC)’s unsolicited proposal for the takeover of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) remains alive amid the return of Japanese contractors for the train system’s rehabilitation and maintenance. 

Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan said there is an ongoing review of MPIC’s offer, which has been granted an original proponent status (OPS) in 2017.

“The proposal remains with the DOTr. It will still go up to NEDA and there are just issues involving timing and terms that’s going to involve NEDA so at this point, maybe it’s too early or premature to say the specifics of the arrangement as well as timing,” Batan said.

Batan said arbitration case filed by Busan Universal Railways Inc., MRT-3’s former maintenance provider, against the DOTr has also complicated the government’s review of the MPIC proposal. 

“There are just some legal issues that are being resolved. As you know, there is an ongoing arbitration for MRT-3 and that is part of the considerations in the timing of the different phases,” he said.

Batan said MPIC is well aware of the arbitration issue, and as such has not undertaken efforts to rush the government.

In a interview last February, MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the OPS awarded to his group by the DOTr to rehabilitate, operate, and maintain the MRT-3 for over 30 years “technically still exists.”

MPIC president Jose Ma. Lim, for his part, earlier said the group is considering to reconfigure the proposal to operations and maintenance as the government decided to tap Japanese contractors for the rehabilitation and maintenance contract.

This is after Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade in an interview in October last year said he intends to make the project a solicited proposal, wherein the contract will be auctioned amid an existing unsolicited proposal from MPIC.

In another interview last December, Tugade said his agency is again looking at MPIC’s unsolicited offer, while also considering the solicited route.

The transport chief said he wants a package that will be “lock, stock and barrel.”

MPIC’s proposed investment for its MRT-3 proposal is P20 billion and it includes a provision of no fare increase for at least two years.

The company has also offered to buy out the government’s stake held by Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines as well as other shareholders in Metro Rail Transit Corp. or the private owner of the train system.

On Tuesday evening, the DOTr officially handed over the overall rehabilitation and maintenance works of the MRT-3 to the group of Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-TES Philippines.

The rehabilitation works are slated for completion within the first 24 months of the 43-month rehabilitation and maintenance contract signed in Dec. 28 last year.

During the 24-month rehabilitation period which began in February, Batan said the MRT-3 targets to increase the number of its operating trains from 15 to 20, double the train operating speed to 60 to 65 kilometers per hour, and slash by half the travel time between trains from current seven to 10 minutes to 3.5 minutes.