Trackway urges DOTr to grant OPS

MANILA, Philippines — A local consortium eyeing to develop a mass transit system along the heavily congested EDSA has renewed its request to the Department of Transportation for the award of original proponent status (OPS).

In a letter to Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade dated Dec. 22, Trackway consortium CEO Francis Yuseco said  their proposed system “has been already extensively studied by the National Center for Transport Studies, approved for implementation along the C-5 corridor and Commonwealth Avenue by your own department, the Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Metro Manila Development Authority.”

“The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) also officially prohibited the granting of any franchise to other bus companies as such franchises will infringe our Intellectual Property Rights in violation of RA 8293,” he said.

Yuseco earlier sent a letter to Tugade requesting for the acceleration and approval of the group’s proposal as the original proponent for the EDSA Rapid Trackway project to enable it to start the documentary requirements for funding of as much as $200 million from the US.

However, in a letter dated Oct. 29, DOTr assistant secretary for road transport and infrastructure Mark Steven Pastor said the agency had forwarded the proposal to the LTFRB for thorough study and review.

“The undersigned recognizes your willingness and dedication to offer better solutions in providing the public with safe, convenient and efficient public transport options. The DOTr is one with you in this mighty endeavor,” Pastor said.

“While we appreciate your ardent desire, digging in this proposal for the past 25 years, the department will have to go through extensive study and deliberation to reconsider your proposal amidst the situation surrounding this matter,” he said.

In response to the DOTr’s letter, Yuseco said: “Your department duly noted our consortium’s 25 year persistent efforts to provide our country a safe, convenient and better mass transit system. Yet your department posits that it needs more time to conduct further extensive study to qualify us as the original proponent of our own copyrighted and patented system.”

Designed as a complement to the EDSA MRT, the proposed EDSA Rapid Trackway includes the construction of 35 fully air-conditioned Sky Stations (every 500 meters from Monumento to Mall of Asia) equipped with escalators, elevators, waiting lounges, wireless fiber optics, clean and hygienic comfort rooms, convenient stores and coffee shops.