Chinese firm likely to bag MRT3 deal

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) may award the contract for the capacity expansion project of the Metro Rail Transit line 3 (MRT3) along EDSA to CNR Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co. Ltd. of China early next year.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the agency’s bids and awards committee (BAC) is likely to issue the Notice of Award to CNR Dalian in the first week of January.

“We will most likely award it to Dalian. We are hoping within the end of the year, but it will likely be in the first week of next year,” Abaya said.

The capacity expansion project worth P3.8 billion involves the procurement of 48 light rail vehicles (LRVs) for MRT3. The mass transit system now serves close to 600,000 passengers per day or almost double the original designed capacity of 350,000.

The joint special bids and awards committee of the DOTC and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) is in the process of post qualifying the bid submitted by lone bidder CNR Dalian.

It would be recalled that Dalian Locomotive CNR submitted a bid of P3.759 billion or P10 million lower than the indicative price of P3.769 billion for the MRT3 capacity expansion project. Another Chinese firm CSR Zhouzhou was disqualified by the DOTC.

Under the expansion program, the DOTC said the government would acquire 48 new trains to be able to use four-car trains that would arrive every 2.5 minutes during peak hours from the current system wherein three-car trains arrive every three minutes during peak hours.

Abaya reiterated that the government expects the delivery of the additional 48 new trains under the expansion project a month before President Aquino steps down in 2016.

The prototype of the new trains was supposed to be delivered by December next year and would be tested on the rails of MRT 3 along EDSA.

The new trains would be delivered by batches and the last batch of delivery of the 48 new trains is scheduled in May 2016.

“The prototype is expected to arrive by the end of 2015 and we expect full delivery by 2016,” the DOTC chief said.

The DOTC has tapped international rail Barry Gardner to review the terms of reference for used by the government to bid out the project after Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar came out in the open late last June and revealed that a group that included MRT general manager Al Vitangcol III tried to extort $30 million from Prague-based Inekon Group.

The consultant would determine whether or not the terms of reference of the bidding for the acquisition of 48 new LRVs for the MRT3 along EDSA favored a certain bidder.

As early as January, the Inekon group offered to sell trains to the Philippine government under a concessional loan scheme through overseas development assistance (ODA).

The Inekon group was part of the five companies that bought bidding documents from the DOTC but did not join the bidding.