MRT-3 maintenance provider tells DOTr to abide by court order
Terminating Metro Rail Transit 3’s (MRT-3) service contract will not solve its problems, maintenance provider Busan Universal Rail, Inc. (BURI), yesterday maintained.
BURI stressed it was not remiss in its performance and called for the “rule of law” so that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) would proceed with the arbitration proceedings which the court earlier ordered.
Terminating the contract and withholding payments due to BURI, not only “lacks due process but likewise have placed the MRT operations in peril,” according to the maintenance service provider.
The contract for MRT-3 maintenance cannot be unilaterally terminated because of temporary stoppages, more so on the subjective opinion that such were the consequence of the company’s failure to “satisfactorily perform work obligations,” according to the statement which BURI issued to the press.
Last week (October 13, 2017) the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (Branch 105) ordered the DOTr and BURI to proceed with the arbitration proceedings before the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (PDRCI), the agency tasked with resolving contractual and legal disputes between government and private entities.
“We are calling on the DOTr to abide by the court order,” according to BURI. “Our actual performance and compliance with contractual obligations could help the DOTr see the light and avoid a protracted legal conflict.”
BURI insists it has delivered and performed beyond its contractual obligations, met its key performance indicators and delivered more than the required train availability to the system.
It has submitted, documentary and technical evidence to show the design flaws and their impact on the performance of the trains to the DOTr.
BURI also repeatedly reminded the DOTr about the completion of the rail replacement and even the DOTr Secretary Arturo Tugade instructed MRT to review loading protocols.
“As far as we know, that review did not happen,” BURI noted.
The glitches are more reasonably due to design flaws – and not mainly maintenance issues, the company argued. Through the years, the deterioration of the rails and passenger loading above the intended usage only worsened the system’s condition and resulted in more glitches.
Even in year 2000, when Sumitomo was maintaining the system in the MRT’s first year of operation, when the trains and rails were brand new and ridership was much less, the MRT-3 already logged 1,492 glitches.
“Records will show that as of August 15, 2017 BURI’s operational fleet availability for MRT3 is 91.67% (66 out of 72 cars), which is higher than LRT1’s 74.82% (102 of 139 cars), and LRT2’s 66.67% (48 of 72 cars),” the maintenance provider underscored.
“This figure of 91.67% represents a dramatic rise from the fleet availability of 55% when BURI took over the maintenance of the MRT-3 on January 2016, despite the significant increase of ridership of about 30% from 2000 when maintenance was still being undertaken by Sumitomo.”