MPIC improves offer for MRT-3 rehab

MANILA, Philippines -  Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) has submitted to the Duterte administration a much improved unsolicited proposal to rehabilitate and improve Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3) which includes a two-year moratorium on fare increases.

 “It’s been submitted. It’s a good proposal but it’s up to the government,” said MPIC chairman  Manuel Pangilinan.

MPIC president and CEO Jose Ma. Lim said the revised proposal is way better than the previous one.

 “There will be no increase for at least two years and the investments we committed more than doubled (to P12 billion),” Lim said.

 MRT-3 is a 17-kilometer public transport system that serves 13 stations from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City.

 As early as 2011, MPIC submitted a proposal to rehabilitate MRT-3 but the government did not approve it because the offer included raising fares for the train system.

For the revised MRT-3 proposal, Pangilinan said MPIC is teaming up with Ayala Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd.

 “There’s a broad agreement with them in respect to light rail projects. It’s extended to Ayala and Macquarie so the shareholding is 55 percent for us, 35 percent for (Ayala) and 10 percent for Macquarie,” Pangilinan said.

MPIC, together with Ayala and Macquarie, 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.

For several years now, MRT-3 has been hounded by frequent service interruptions and maintenance shutdowns.

Pangilinan said the revised proposal is more advantageous to the government.

“I think it’s a much better proposal. It means much more money for the government. It’s also good for them to pass the hot potato to us because we will get blamed (for the service interruptions),” he said.

The DOTC awarded the contract to Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC) to build, lease and transfer the Metro Rail Transit System, under the build-operate-transfer laws.

 The scheme required the DOTC to hold the franchise and run the system particularly the operation and the collection of fares.

MRTC infused $190 million into the project.