Metro Pacific Investments Corp. is no longer interested in operating and rehabilitating the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 system.
“We are no longer interested,” MPIC chairman Manuel Pangilinan said, when asked if the company would pursue its unsolicited proposal to take over the MRT 3 system.
He said the company would also not participate if the government decided to bid out the operations and maintenance of the mass rail system.
The Transportation Department in September 2017 granted the original proponent status to MPIC which submitted an unsolicited bid for the rehabilitation and O&M of MRT 3.
The consortium of MPIC and Ayala Corp. submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Department of Transportation to upgrade and rehabilitate MRT 3 for P12.5 billion.
Transportation Undersecretary for planning and project development Ruben Reinoso earlier said MPIC was required to submit revised proposal for MRT 3, “but did not submit after long past deadline.”
The government earlier tapped Sumitomo Corp. to rehabilitate MRT 3 under an P18-billion loan agreement between the Philippines and Japan.
Under the deal, Sumitomo will be in charge of rehabilitation and maintenance of the system’s electromechanical components, power supply, rail tracks and depot equipment until 2022. It will also overhaul the system’s 72 18-year-old light rail vehicles.
The consortium is also looking at buying out the stake of the government and private investors in MRT 3.
The government through Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines own a combined 80-percent economic interest in MRT 3 while the balance is held by creditors of Metro Rail Transit Corp.
MPIC in 2011 offered to buy out Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines in MRT 3 for $1.1 billion.
MRT 3 which runs along EDSA from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City serves more than 500,000 passengers a day, beyond its rated capacity of 350,000.
The line has a fleet of 73 Czech-made air-conditioned rail cars.
