MRT-3 sale on hold ‘till predicament settled — DOF

The Department of Finance (DOF) wants to settle first the legal predicament of Metro Rail Transit Line (MRT-3) before the government sells its interest in the busy rail line, but which trains oftentimes stall on maintenance and technical issues.

Describing MRT-3’s situation as “complicated,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the Duterte administration is determined to fix the railway system, which runs from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft station in Pasay City.

Dominguez said the DOF is working with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to finally put an end to all the issues attached with MRT-3 including its maintenance provider.

The plan for the 16.9-kilometerlong rail line, Dominguez said also includes the sale of Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines’ (DBP) 77-percent economic interest in MRT Corp., the signatory to the build-lease-transfer agreement with the MRT-3.

“It’s a rather complicated deal because it involves selling the shares. First of all it involves getting a new maintenance contractor and then putting ahead with privatizing it or selling the enterprise,” Dominguez told reporters in an interview at the DOF headquarters.

Asked how the government intends to unload its MRT-3 shareholdings, Dominguez said that plan has to be determined after all other issues are resolved.

“The real issue now is the riding public, the people are still lining up for a long time to get in the train. That’s the first priority to get it working right,” Dominguez said. “Quite frankly, I don’t even know why they [Land Bank and DBP] ended up with those shares.”

Companies that own MRT 3 stakes include: Astoria Investments, Anglo Philippine Holdings, Railco Investments, Metro Global Holdings Corp., and Sheridan LRT Holdings.

In September last year, Dominguez said the government had no plans to execute the takeover of the MRT-3 by buying out the private shareholders.

Dominguez explained that while buying out the private shareholders of MRT-3 is an option, such decision “doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense” considering the complexity of the ownership issue.

“If you look at the entire system most of the other parts of the system are already privately owned. So it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense if we buy only one part of it while the rest is owned by people in the private sector,” Dominguez said.

“It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to do that, it may look a little better if the old system is really operated by the private sector. You’ve seen how the government operated it, it was not a sterling example of public service,” he added.

Under the Aquino administration, the government had earmarked P50 billion to acquire the whole economic interest of Land Bank and DBP as well as other shareholders of MRT-3.

But due to funding constraints and legal questions, the government failed to execute the plan.

Dominguez now said MRT-3 is better managed by the private sector.

The government, through Land Bank and DBP, holds an economic interest in MRT-3, by virtue of the government’s purchase of asset-backed bonds issued by MRTC’s original owners Metro Rail Transit Corp. MRTC is now controlled by Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC). (CSL)