Feasibility study for O&M bundling of railway operations completed in Q2

MANILA, Philippines —  The feasibility study for the bundling of the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) and Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) is expected to be completed within the second quarter of next year, according to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center.

John Dominic Zafe, director of the project development service at the PPP Center, told reporters the International Finance Corp. (IFC) is expected to complete the feasibility study for the bundling of the two railways’ O&M “around quarter two next year.”

He said the IFC was tapped as consultant for the bundling of the LRT-2 and MRT-3 O&M through the Project Development and Monitoring Facility managed by the PPP Center.

“We’ve just engaged IFC this month. So, December. So basically, the feasibility study ranges from four to six months,” he said.

He said the study will look at the financial viability of bundling the O&M of the two railways, as well as the interface risk or those related to technology and equipment.

The Department of Transportation earlier said it plans to offer the O&M of LRT-2 and MRT-3 as a bundle to make it more attractive to interested firms.

For the terms of reference for the contract, It said it will tap the services of the Asian Development Bank and IFC.

While the government is looking to offer the O&M of the two railways as a bundle, it has received unsolicited proposals to operate and maintain the MRT-3 along EDSA.

San Miguel Corp., which submitted an unsolicited proposal for the MRT-3 O&M, was awarded original proponent status under the previous administration.

The original proponent status will give the company the right to match offers from other firms when a comparative challenge is conducted for the project.

The consortium of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Corp. has also submitted an unsolicited proposal for the MRT-3 O&M.

Earlier, National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the agency favors solicited bids for the O&M of the two railways over unsolicited proposals to get the best possible offers.

“We prefer solicited versus unsolicited because if it’s solicited, you tend to get better chances of getting a good winner,” he said.