By Maricel Cruz | Manila Standard Today | November 26, 2014
The Metro Rail Transit Holdings II Inc. has urged the government to reinstate the so-called “single point of responsibility” to allow the company to properly maintain, upgrade, and expand the MRT line 3 system.
At a hearing conducted by the House committee on Metro Manila Development chaired by Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, MRTH-II chairman Robert Sobrepeña said the government’s plan for an Equity Value Buy-Out will not solve the problems plaguing the MRT-3.
“The P54 billion EVBO would not in any way, benefit the maintenance and rehabilitation of the MRT-3 system but will only be used to retire the bonds already owned by DBP (Development Bank of the Philippines) and LBP (Land Bank of the Philippines). Thus, public money will be transferred from one pocket of the Government to another without benefit to the riding public,” Sobrepeña told the House panel.
The committee has been conducting a probe of MRT 3 situation after several lawmakers have demanded a congressional inquiry in aid of legislation into the issue.
Sobrepeña’s statement practically maintained his position stated in his Nov. 11 letter to Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya where he said that reinstating the single point of responsibility is an immediate solution instead of the EVBO.
Sobrepeña said such a move will allow MRT Corporation to handle under a single contract the maintenance, rehabilitation, and upgrading of the MRT-3 system under the management of the former maintenance provider, Sumitomo Corporation.
“The maintenance will not just include corrective measures but also preventive maintenance and asset management plan as recommended by the MTR Hong Kong in its preliminary audit report. The rehabilitation to be undertaken will include the immediate procurement of spare parts, replacement of broken and deteriorated rail tracks, and other works necessary to rehabilitate the MRT-3 system,” Sobrepeña he said.
“Without prejudice to the pending arbitration proceedings, the upgrading of the MRT-3 system will ensure that the commissioning and eventual operations of the 48 new light rail vehicles (LRVs from China) to be supplied will be compatible and seamless,” he added.
Sobrepeña said for the next 10 years, the rehabilitation work for the upgrade of the signaling system and the refurbishment of the 73 existing Czech LRVs will cost $97.2 million.
There will also be a fixed monthly maintenance fee of $2.2 million, all inclusive of spare parts and labor, including the third general overhauling on 2023 with no further escalations thereafter.
“It is our belief that it would be to the best interest of the MRT-3 system and the riding public that the single point of responsibility be reinstated by adding the rehabilitation and upgrading of the system to the contract of the maintenance contractor under a long term contract,” Sobrepeña said.
“With all of these implemented, we are confident that the pressing concerns to ensure the safety and convenience of the riding public shall be achieved,” he added.
The Department of Transportation and Communications earlier appointed PH Trams as its interim maintenance provider, a move that was questioned by MRTC owing to the qualifications and capacity of PH Trams.
In August 2013, the department awarded to APT Global a one-year maintenance contract over the MRT-3 system without coordinating with MRTC.
Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, one of the authors of several resolutions filed in the Hoise on MRT 3 woes, maintained that maintenance contractors PH Trams-APT be blacklisted, following the announcement of the Office of the Ombudsman that it has already ordered the conduct of a preliminary investigations against officials of the DOTC in connection with the allegedly anomalous contracts the agency has entered for the maintenance of the MRT-3.
“The DOTC as the operator of the MRT-3 and the MRTC and APT Global and former maintenance contractors should be held liable for the poor maintenance of the MRT 3. All ways to exact accountability and justice should be done, including the blacklisting of the companies involved,” Ridon said.
At the Senate, no less than Senator Grace Poe disclosed during a recent probe on the MRT-3 problems that under APT-Global, the elevator and escalator defects increased by 100 percent.
