Transport officials told to solve ‘cancerous’ problems of MRT3
Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito pressed yesterday transport officials to solve the cancerous problems plaguing the Metro Railway Transit (MRT) 3 that continues to be a bane to hundreds of thousands of commuters.
Ejercito issued the statement after stepping out briefly from a public hearing of the Senate public services committee chaired by Sen. Grace Poe on why commuters suffer from an almost brief daily train stoppages although the past Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) had ordered P3.8 billion worth of 48 trains from Dalian, China in 2014 and recently entered into a controversial maintenance contract with Busan Universal Rail Incorporated (BURI).
DoTr Secretary Arthur Tugade had ordered that the Chinese mademade trains should not be used until problems such as signaling system are resolved.
Despite these problems, Ejercito expressed relief that the long lines of commuters that are normal occurrences, particularly during rush hours, would no longer exist late this year.
DOTr vows improvement DOTr Undersecretary Cesar Chavez assured the Poe committee that the MRT3 operations would be improved following the increase of the power capacity of MRT3 from the current 30 megavolt to 60 megavolt; the power increase would mean that the current three-car train would be increased to a four-car train as the current physical feature of light rail transit allows a four-car train; and the acquisition of a parking (depot) area.
This means that the current waiting time for the arrival and departure of trains that sometimes reaches four to five minutes would be reduced to 2.5 minutes, Chavez said.
The long lines of commuters would be wiped out, he added.
Chavez also said that the DOTr has set aside P1.2 billion for the total rail replacement at the 16.9-kilometer MRT3 line.
Poe earlier asked aloud why the past DOTC then under DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya entered into a contract with Dalian on a “chop chop” basis as Dalian would supply bare Dalian trains but their signaling systems and engines would be contracted with South Korea and Germany, respectively. Who’s Marlo dela Cruz? Meanwhile, Poe said she wanted more elaborate answers to the question, “Who is Marlo dela Cruz?” as his name repeatedly popped up in the previous Senate hearing.
Reports showed that Dela Cruz is one of the incorporators of PH Trams, the maintenance provider of the MRT-3 from October 2012 to September 2013. He was also reportedly an incorporator of the joint venture of Global-APT JV from September 2013 to July 2015 and an ally of the Liberal Party (LP).
Dela Cruz’s brother, William, is also reportedly the general manager of BURI, the current maintenance provider of MRT.
But Dela Cruz was not present at yesterday’s hearing on the problems plaguing the MRT-3, prompting Poe to note that the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA) failed to serve a subpoena on Dela Cruz since he no longer resides in the address given to the committee. (With reports from Elena L. Aben and PNA)