MRTC gets support on Edsa MRT-3 phase 2 project

Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) Administrator Teodoro Cruz testified before the House committee on transportation and communications that the Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC) is best suited to implement the EDSA MRT-3 Phase 2 project.

Their assessment was based on the proven competence of the project proponent MRTC, the technical and financial non-viability of a proposal to instead link LRT-1 Monumento to the EDSA Roosevelt, and the protracted legal battle that will arise should MRT’s rights over the EDSA MRT-3 Phase 2 project be disregarded.

Cruz testified that its Japanese and French consultants established that extending LRT-1 from EDSA Monumento to EDSA Roosevelt is not technically compatible to the DPWH flyover project in EDSA Roosevelt and EDSA North Avenue and the DOTC Mass Transportation Master Plan. He further justified that the LRT-1 Monumento extension will cost an additional P200 million just for acquisition of right of way.

Mendoza and Cruz said that it would be more costly if government disregard MRTC rights and implement the project themselves since it will cost government between P3.5 to P4 billion, while MRTC guaranteed cost for the same scope of work is only P2.4 billion.

MRTC chairman Robert John L. Sobrepeña said that the EDSA MRT-3 phase 1 is one of the few mass transportation projects in the world completed on time and within budget. It has exceeded commuter projections with 85 percent of design capacity reached in the third year instead of the scheduled seventh year. He added that implementation of EDSA MRT-3 phase 2 will also allow government to reduce subsidy by 30 percent.

Lawmakers concluded that the completion of the P8-billion project aside from shortening the travel time from Monumento in Caloocan to Taft Avenue in Pasay City would also increase government revenues by at least 50 percent and shorten government obligations to only 14 years instead of 25 years.

Lakas Rep. Jacinto Paras, House committee chairman, said "I don’t know why we are still encountering delays in the implementation of the project when it has been approved by the NEDA, DOTC and DOF." His views were shared by other members of the committee.

They said they were alarmed about conflicting policies of the present administration and said its disregard of the sanctity of contracts and the BOT law processes will discourage the inflow of investments into utility and infrastructure development.