‘MRT maintenance provider takes 2 months to replace bulb’
The maintenance service provider of Metro Rail Transit 3, the rail line along Edsa, takes two months to replace a broken light bulb, Rep. Jericho Nograles of party-list group Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) said yesterday.
“This shows the inefficiency and incompetence of Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI) in fulfilling its obligations under the service contract with the government,” he said.
“If it takes BURI two months before it can actually replace a simple light bulb, just imagine how long it would take for them to replace critical spare parts needed to ensure the smooth operation of the entire train system,” he said.
Nograles added that instead of giving a clear and understandable explanation of MRT 3’s accidents and glitches and present solutions that would address the problems, BURI “provided nothing but excuses.”
The lawmaker from Davao City attended last Wednesday’s media forum conducted by BURI purposely to explain its side on the various controversies related to its P3.81-billion service contract for MRT 3.
He said the lack of any valid explanation from BURI should prompt the House committee on transportation to immediately conduct a probe on BURI’s contract and other alleged irregularities in the MRT-3.
Nograles has filed Resolution 787 to investigate BURI and MRT 3’s train coach supplier Dalian Locomotive, a Chinese company.
He said he was disappointed with the explanation of BURI spokesman Charles Mercado that MRT-3 is now plagued with problems because the system is already old and therefore bound for all sorts of failures.
“This excuse is absolutely unacceptable because for one, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 is a lot older than MRT 3 but remains very efficient and the glitches only happen sparingly,” he said.
He said under its contract, BURI should have rehabilitated at least 14 train coaches out of 43 that they are contracted to fix.
He claimed that the service provider “does not even have the necessary equipment such as wheel lathing machine to ensure that they can effectively carry out repair and maintenance procedures to ensure the smooth and hassle-free operation of the train system.”