DoTC takes fresh look at MPIC plan for MRT

The expansion and improvement of services at the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) may happen sooner than expected with the government’s renewed interest in a proposal by the Manuel V. Pangilinan group to take complete control of the system.

A top Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) official said the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) recently asked the company to make a presentation about its $300-million proposal for MRT.

“(The DoTC) asked us to explain ourselves, but I don’t want to preempt them,” MPIC president Jose Ma. K. Lim said in a recent interview.

The MRT line on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) is operated by the government through the DoTC, but the line is owned and maintained by the MRT Corp., a consortium now controlled by MPIC.

Under MPIC’s proposal, the company wants to take complete control of the MRT operations. The company said it would spend $300 million to double the line’s capacity to 700,000 passengers a day.

The MRT currently transports around 500,000 people a day, which is above its designed capacity of 350,000 passengers daily. MRT trains break down on an almost daily basis due to the stress running over capacity puts on coaches and tracks.

Other amenities in MRT stations such as escalators have also been known to fail without warning due to overcrowding.

MPIC said it would also acquire shares in MRT held by the government for over $1 billion, giving the state fresh funds for other initiatives.

In exchange, the company said it would raise train fares to around P30, or roughly the same as fares charged by bus operators that run the same distance. MPIC also wants the MRT concession extended by 15 more years to give the company more time to recoup its investment.

But at the same time, MPIC said it was willing to waive the 15-percent yield guaranteed by the government, which would mean the end of heavy state subsidies spent every year to keep the trains running.

“This proposal is now being studied and we are hopeful that it will receive a good review,” Lim said.

The DoTC previously wanted to bid out joint operations and maintenance contract for the MRT and the intersecting Light Rail Transit (LRT) line 1 from Baclaran to Roosevelt, but this plan was abandoned.

Instead, a contract for LRT line 1, which is scheduled to be extended toward Cavite province, will be bid out separately, although DoTC officials have said that all train lines in Metro Manila would eventually be integrated.