DOTC speeds up train acquisition

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is speeding up the acquisition of light rail vehicles for the Metro Rail Transit line 3 (MRT-3) to beef up the existing fleet in time for the rehabilitation of EDSA.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said on the sidelines of the Philippine economic forum entitled “Good Governance is Good Economics: Achieving Investment Grade” that the DOTC is set to publish the guidelines for the acquisition of 48 new trains soon.

“We are publishing soon the procurement of 48 new coaches. As I have said procurement will take four to six months and manufacturing will take one and a half to two years,” he stressed.

He added that the agency is closely looking at acquiring second hand trains from Spain and is set to dispatch a three-man team to check the condition of the trains being offered by Metro de Madrid.

“A small team of three will be departing on Feb. 20 to check with Metro de Madrid. We want to check if the trains will be compatible and if the timing will still be shorter than an outright purchase,” he added.

DOTC Undersecretary Rene Limcaoco said in an interview that the approved budget for contract (ABC) for the acquisition of the 48 new coaches for MRT 3 is around P4.5 billion.

Limcaoco said the DOTC is carefully studying whether the acquisition of new trains or second trains would be most advantageous to the government.

The DOTC also received a proposal from the government of Czech Republic to sell trains to the government under a concessional loan scheme through overseas development assistance (ODA).

Republic Act 9184 otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act allows the purchase of second hand items

The MRT-3 services about 500,000 passengers per day exceeding its rated capacity of about 350,000 passengers. It has a fleet of 73 Czech-made air-conditioned rail cars, of which up to 60 three-car trains operate daily while the others are undergoing maintenance.

The DOTC is in the midst of bidding out a contract for the acquisition of 26 LRVs for MRT-3 early this year as part of the purchase of 52 more LRVs worth P8.63 billion.

Last September, Malacañang and the board of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) approved the MRT-3 capacity expansion project involving the acquisition of additional LRVs.

The expansion would translate to a 60 percent to 70 percent increase in the capacity of the mass transit that traverses from Taft Ave. in Pasay City to North Ave. in Quezon City.

Abaya said the agency is awaiting an executive order from Malacañang to detail the proposed $1 billion transaction that would pave the way for the complete government takeover of MRT3.

Malacañang already gave the DOTC the green light to pursue the complete government takeover of the operator of MRT3 – Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC).

The plan to buy out the private sector’s stake in the MRT-3 would mean the government would no longer need to pay MRTC huge fees every year.  The DOTC annually pays the MRTC for equity rental payments, maintenance cost, debt guaranteed payment, insurance expenses, and others.