Abaya defends MRT-3 from Binay criticism

MANILA, Philippines - The government has taken steps to add trains and upgrade facilities at the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) amid operational issues raised by critics including Vice President Jejomar Binay, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said yesterday.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya said the MRT-3 is now able to deploy up to 45 coaches during peak hours, a month after the agency’s move to adopt the multi-discipline approach for the maintenance of the train system.

This belies earlier claims made by various individuals including Binay that the railway system is now down to only four to seven trains. 

Abaya said the maintenance provider of MRT-3 aims to raise the number of coaches to 54 by next month and increase it further to 60 by October. 

On Binay’s claim that the DOTC had P5 billion in its 2014 budget to overhaul trains, Abaya said this was a blatant lie. 

“It is clear that there is no such entry. There was only a P4.5-billion appropriation, which was for the addition of trains,” Abaya told a news conference. 

The DOTC purchased 48 new coaches in 2014 but private owner MRT Holdings obtained a stay order against the additional trains. 

Abaya said the prototype of the new coaches is expected to arrive by Aug. 12 to 18.

As for the claim that DOTC forced MRT Corp., the owner of MRT-3, to transfer the maintenance requirement, Abaya said the firm gave extremely short notice that it could no longer procure a maintenance provider, leaving the agency with no choice but to resort to emergency procurement in order to ensure the continued safe operation of the train system.

In response to the claim the emergency contract was awarded to an unqualified company, PH Trams, Abaya said the contract was not awarded to PH Trams alone but to a joint venture of PH Trams and Comm Builders & Technology (CB&T). 

“CB&T has a long history of performing maintenance works for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 system, and as such, provided the financial and track record requirements for the joint venture to satisfy procurement criteria,” he said. 

Abaya also belied allegations that the building maintenance is the biggest maintenance contract, as records showed it is only the fourth highest at a cost of P23.35 million out of the seven awarded in the past two months.

The maintenance contracts with higher amounts are the rolling stock maintenance at P131.28 million, power system maintenance at P43.23 million and rail track maintenance at P23.9 million.

As for the claim on irregularities in the procurement of MRT-3 contracts, the DOTC and its officials have cooperated in the investigations. 

To address operational issues of MRT-3, Abaya said the DOTC is looking to procure a long-term maintenance provider for three years for the train system.

The Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) Review Committee recommended the approval of emergency procurement and the DOTC will need to wait for the approval of the review committee to proceed.

In a related development, there would be no increase in the fares of the LRT 1 anytime soon as the government can compensate Light Rail Manila Consortium that is set to take over the operations of the train line by September.