MPIC revives proposal to rehabilitate MRT-3

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. ( MPIC) may revive a proposal to rehabilitate the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 ( MRT- 3) under the new administration.

“I think a great deal of it will depend, on who the next president is going to be. We’d like to (revive proposal) but I guess we just have to wait and see,” MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

While the infrastructure giant sees the need to rehabilitate the train system which runs from North Avenue station in Quezon City until Taft station in Pasay City, he said the company was on a waitand-see as the new president might decide to bid it out.

“You can see it (rehabilitation) is necessary,” he said.

The MRT-3 carries close to 600,000 passengers per day, well-above its designed daily capacity of 350,000.

The Department of Transportation and Communications ( DOTC) has been blamed and criticized for the MRT-3’s service interruptions and series of breakdowns over the years as the agency assumed responsibility over the procurement of the train system’s maintenance provider. As early as 2011, MPIC submitted a proposal to the DOTC which offered more than $500 million worth of investments from the private sector to be used to rehabilitate and upgrade the MRT-3.

MPIC’s proposal did not fly as the offer included raising fares for the train system.

DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya has also said earlier the government was more inclined towards an open and transparent competitive bidding.

MPIC is currently involved in the railway business through two public private partnership projects.

Together with Ayala Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings ( Philippines) PTE Ltd., MPIC is part of the Light Rail Manila Corp. or the consortium which bagged the contract for the Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite Extension, Operation and Maintenance project.

It is also part of the AF Payments Inc., the consortium with Ayala Corp., which was awarded the Automatic Fare Collection System project for the country’s railways.