MPIC eyes revival of plan to maintain busy MRT3

Manuel V. Pangilinan-led  Metro Pacific Investments Corp. may revive an  unsolicited plan to assume the operations and maintenance of the busy Metro Rail Transit Line 3 after President Aquino’s term ends next month.

The proposal, whose latest version was submitted last year and was valued at about $524 million, was mainly aimed at rehabilitating the train line, improving services and capacity following years of neglect.

The Metro Pacific proposal was rejected and in January this year, the Department of Transportation and Communications awarded a three-year, P3.8-billion maintenance contract to the Korean-Filipino venture of Busan Transportation Corp., Edison Development & Construction, Tramat Mercantile Inc., TMICorp Inc. and Castan Corp.

“We’d like to [revive the offer],” Pangilinan told reporters in a recent interview. “A great deal will depend on who the next president is going to be. So we just have to take the temperature.”

Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is poised to win the 2016 presidential elections after maintaining a wide lead after voting on Monday, and as his two closest rivals conceded.

The current state of the MRT-3 has been a consistent source of criticism for the current administration. To address the capacity problem, the DOTC ordered 48 new train coaches from China’s Dalian Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co.. The train will be delivered gradually until full completion of the order in 2017. Over half a million people cram themselves daily into the MRT-3, which runs through the busy EDSA thoroughfare in Metro Manila.

It has a design capacity of just 350,000. The DOTC said once the trains from China are fully delivered, its capacity will increase to 800,000.