Metro Pacific Investments Corp. said it plans to revise its proposal to operate and maintain Metro Rail Transit Line 3 after the government tapped a Japanese company to undertake the rehabilitation of the rail system.
“Our proposal is live, but we understand they have gone ahead to contract the rehabilitation with the Japanese firm, so we would probably reconfigure our proposal as O&M, but we have not received any official word from them on how they would want to do it,” MPIC president and chief executive Jose Maria Lim said.
“We are not doing anything to speed up the process. We are just waiting for them to decide,” he said.
The Transportation Department in September 2017 granted the original proponent status to MPIC, which submitted an unsolicited bid for the rehabilitation and O&M of MRT 3.
The consortium of MPIC and Ayala Corp. submitted an unsolicited proposal to DOTr to upgrade and rehabilitate MRT 3 system for P12.5 billion.
The government, however, tapped Sumitomo Corp. to rehabilitate MRT 3 under the P18-billion loan agreement between the Philippines and Japan.
Under the deal, Sumitomo will be in charge of rehabilitation and maintenance of the system’s electromechanical components, power supply, rail tracks and depot equipment until 2022. It will also overhaul the system’s 72 18-year-old light rail vehicles.
The consortium is also looking at buying out the stake of the government and private investors in MRT 3.
The government through Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines own a combined 80-percent economic interest in MRT 3, while the balance is held by creditors of Metro Rail Transit Corp.
MPIC in 2011 offered to buy out Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines in MRT 3 for $1.1 billion.
MRT 3, which runs along Edsa from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City, serves more than 500,000 passengers a day, beyond its rated capacity of 350,000.
The line has a fleet of 73 Czech-made air-conditioned rail cars.