MRT 3 running smoothly

MANILA, Philippines—Sumitomo Corporation of the Philippines continues to monitor the progress of MRT 3 and expressed satisfaction that the service had been running smoothly since Oct. 19, when Sumitomo turned over the system to an interim maintenance contractor.

“After 12 years as maintenance contractor, we just can’t turn our back on a project that we always want to succeed because it means convenience and safety for the riding public,” said a top Sumitomo official.

He said maintaining MRT would always be challenging because it was an old system that needed an upgrade to ensure efficiency and to solve a perennial spare parts availability issue. The October 19 turnover by Sumitomo to the new contractor was completed well into the early hours of Saturday, October 20.

Earlier, the official said Sumitomo was still assessing its position on whether to bid for the MRT 3 contract six months from now.

“The situation is very fluid at the moment. We would like to see the terms of reference first. We would also like to find out if it would be the government or the privately owned Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC) that would bid out the contract,” he said.