New MRT-3 rail car
The Transport Department said passengers of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 can expect a new running rail car by the end of the first quarter next year.
The agency said the second new light rail vehicle for the MRT-3 arrived Wednesday as scheduled at the Manila International Container Terminal.
After it is processed by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and transported to the MRT-3 Depot, tests on the different components will be conducted until February.
These include testing the German-made traction motors from Voith and brake systems from Knorr-Bremse, and the overall performance of the LRV to ensure it is safe, reliable, and at par with international standards.
The Transport Department added two more LRVs were expected to be delivered over the next two months.
Four LRVs will be delivered a month by March until the the 48th unit in January 2017.
The Transport Department awarded the P3.759-billion MRT3 capacity expansion contract to China’s Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co CNR Group. Darwin G. Amojelar
Metal output drops
Metal production in the first nine months of 2015 fell 20 percent to P85.78 billion from P107.24 billion year-on-year, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau said Friday.
Bureau director Leo Jasareno attributed the decreased value of metal production to the lower prices of gold, silver, copper and nickel.
Gold prices in the nine-month period dropped 8.4 percent from $1,288.73 per troy ounce a year ago to $1,180.13 per troy oz.
Analysts expect gold prices falling below the $1,100 per ounce mark before the end of 2015.
The average price of silver dropped 19.6 percent from $19.95 per troy oz to $16.03 per troy oz.
Nickel prices declined from $7.77 per lb to just $5.70 per lb, while copper dropped from $3.13 per lb to $2.57 per lb.
“The poor base metal price during the year was brought about by the listless world economic growth and slowdown of the Chinese economy,” Jasareno said.
He said said direct shipments of nickel ore and mixed nickel-cobalt sulfide accounted for 52.4 percent or P44.97 billion of the total production value. Anna Leah E. Gonzales
Emotors bullish
Emotors Inc., maker of ZüM electric tricycle, is targeting small scale entrepreneurs as possible clients.
“Small and medium enterprises is a growing enterprise. We are willing to partner with the likes of Aling Puring of Puregold and even tricycle drivers association,” said Emotors president and chief executive Elizabeth Lee.
She said Zum e-trike was a business that would spread the benefit of environmentally-sound technology at a cheap price.
The company recently sent feelers to Puregold Price Club to encourage store and grocery owners under its Aling Puring livelihood program to invest on e-trike.
It is also in talks with local government units to to replace transportation fleet with green technology e-trikes
The company has initially set its sight on Palawan to test the economics and viability of e-trikes as an alternative means of transportation.
E-Motors is the only social enterprise registered with the Board of Investments under the Comprehensive Industrial Policy and Directions for the Motor Vehicle Development Program and the Omnibus Investment Code.
