MRT firm to DOTC: Don’t push 48-coach deal

MANILA, Philippines - The Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Holdings, owner of the MRT-3, called on the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) yesterday to focus on its role as lessee under the existing build-lease-transfer (BLT) agreement instead of pushing for the award and delivery of 48 light rail vehicles from China.

In a statement, MRT Holdings spokesman David Narvasa said the DOTC violated the existing BLT agreement between the government and MRT Corp. (MRTC) with its plan to buy 48 coaches from CNR Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co. of China.

The MRTC entered into a BLT agreement with the DOTC in 1999 to construct and maintain a light rail transit system for EDSA, eventually known as MRT-3.

He said that in 2007, MRT Corp. made several proposals to acquire additional coaches and Metro Pacific Investment Corp. proposed in 2010 to supply additional coaches at no cost to the government, but these proposals “remain in limbo and have not been responded to by the DOTC.”

Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 66 Judge Joselito Villarosa earlier granted MRTC’s petition for preliminary injunction with a 20-day temporary order of protection to stop the DOTC from pushing through with the purchase plan.

“The main action is the arbitration case in Singapore,” Narvasa said, adding that the case will determine who has the rights to the MRT-3 capacity expansion.