DOTr eyes return of Sumitomo Corporation as MRT-3 maintenance provider

The maintenance and rehabilitation work is expected to begin before the year ends.

There is huge chance that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) might bring back Sumitomo Corporation and its technical partner Mitsubishi heavy industries in the maintenance and rehabilitation of the Metro Rail Transit or MRT-3.

This has been the statement of the Department of Transportation or DOTr, Wednesday. It also assures the public that the government is doing its best to improve the services of MRT.

According to DOTr Assistant Secretary for Rails Timothy John Batan, Sumitomo Corporation is the first company being considered by the Transportation Department as the maintenance provider of the rail system.

“That’s part of the options the Department of Transportation is looking into. Because you know, that joint venture is the one that designed and built the MRT-3 in 1998 until 2000 and they are ones maintaining the MRT since 2000 until 2012,” Batan said.

The DOTr targets to get the services of the said company through government to government agreement and not by bidding.

Philippine Transport officials are currently coordinating with the Japanese Government regarding the matter. The agreement is expected to be signed before the year ends.

“The G2G agreement will pave way for the Official Development Assistance or ODA that can be used by the DOTr to look for a maintenance service provider.

The DOTr said the contract would also contain the rehabilitation of MRT so the trains could return to its original performance.

However, the Transportation Department has yet to determine the amount it will pay Sumitomo for its services.

Sumitomo was the maintenance provider of MRT in the first 12 years of its operation.

It was also the company that designed the MRT.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation conducted another inspection earlier at the depot of MRT.

The inspection is in connection with the NBI’s investigation on the decoupling of coaches last November 16.

In the said inspection, MRT engineers showed NBI the system of attachment of trains. – Joan Nano | UNTV News & Rescue

https://www.untvweb.com/news/dotr-eyes-return-of-sumitomo-corporation-as-mrt-3-maintenance-provider/

DOTr announces 4-point strategy to improve MRT service

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Wednesday has announced a four-point strategy of “taking bold and strategic steps” to improve the services and to solve the problems troubling the Metro Rail Transit 3.

“A Four-Point Strategy is already being implemented, which involves: promoting accountability (termination of BURI); ensuring continued service delivery (establishment of the Maintenance Transition Team); contracting a qualified maintenance and rehabilitation service provider (Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy); putting in place a long-term, single-point-of-responsibility, operator and maintenance provider for MRT-3 (O&M Unsolicited Proposal),” DOTr said in a statement.

Promoting Accountability

Among these steps was to ‘promote accountability’ by the termination of the contract with BURI on November 6 due to its failure  to meet the performance indicators in the contract, to procure spare parts, to overhaul MRT-3’s train cars, as only 2 out of 43 train cars have been overhauled by BURI.

“These failures led to the many passenger unloading and train removal incidents during the 22 months that BURI was maintaining MRT-3…BURI’s termination is intended to promote accountability, and to ensure that taxpayers’ money (P54 million a month for maintenance and P907 million for the overhaul) is not spent on a non-performing service provider,” it added.

Continued Service Delivery

After the termination of the BURI contract, the DOTr has created a Maintenance Transition Team (MTT) that would maintain the system for 3-6 months while procuring a new and qualified maintenance service provider.

The MTT has also hired 450 former BURI employees. Meanwhile, LRTA and PNR also shared “highly qualified and experienced” railway engineers to the MTT.

“The condition of MRT-3’s spare parts inventory at take over further demonstrated BURI’s failure to purchase and maintain a sufficient level of spare parts. To address this, the DOTr created a special Bids and Award Committee (BAC), which, together with the MTT, is regularly convening to expeditiously procure the spare parts that BURI failed to purchase,” DOTr said.

Maintenance and Rehabilitation Service Provider

The department is also discussing with Japan for the possible return of Sumitomo Corporation and its technical partner Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as maintenance service provider of the MRT-3.

“A G2G (Government to government) agreement is scheduled to be signed before year-end…Sumitomo and Mitsubishi Heavy designed, built, and maintained the MRT-3 in its first 12 years of operations,” DOTr said.

“The maintenance and rehabilitation contract is intended to have a term of 3 years, and will include the rehabilitation and restoration of the system to its original performance standards,” it added.

Long-Term, Single-Point-of-Responsibility, O&M Provider

The DOTr also said that the problems of MRT resulted from short-term and fragmented maintenance contracts and from “finger-pointing” due to having different entities maintaining and operating MRT-3.

To address this, the department pursued an Unsolicited Proposal for the 30-year operation and maintenance (O&M) of MRT-3

The DOTr also said they are already coordinating with the LTFRB and MMDA to expand the P2p bus fleet that will complement the MRT-3.

“Also, an independent safety audit by an ISO-certified and IFIA member certifier (International Federation of Inspection Agencies) will commence soon for the entire MRT-3 system, which is intended to give DOTr additional inputs on the interventions needed to rehabilitate and restore the system’s reliability,” DOTr said.

“With the bump in ridership expected as we approach the holidays, the public can be assured that the DOTr is pursuing all avenues to restore the MRT-3’s reliability and to continue ensuring the safety of its 500,000 daily riders,” it said.

Japan aid eyed in MRT 3 rehab

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) wants to bring back the Japanese group involved in the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3) construction and design 18 years ago in a bid to resolve breakdowns that disrupt the journey of thousands of commuters on a near-daily basis.

The DOTr said yesterday it was holding high-level talks with the Japanese government for Sumitomo Corp. and its technical partner, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to maintain and rehabilitate the MRT 3 via an indicative three-year agreement—backed by a fresh loan from Japan.

It hopes to sign the agreement before the end of 2017.

Sumitomo-Mitsubishi maintained the MRT 3 for its first 12 years of operations. The agreement was not renewed in 2012 under the Aquino administration when the 17-kilometer MRT 3, which traverses the crucial Edsa highway, was already showing signs of strain.

Aquino-era officials said the tandem had imposed conditions they could not accept, including increasing the monthly maintenance fee to $2.2 million from $1.4 million while cutting back on certain responsibilities covering fare collection and the MRT 3 signaling system. Local companies were hired instead but the problems at the MRT 3 did not abate.

The DOTr’s announcement yesterday came less than a month since it formally terminated the contract of previous maintenance provider Busan Universal Rail halfway through its three-year agreement due to continued glitches and for not meeting certain obligations.

The new direction with Sumitomo also casts the spotlight on the MRT3 rehabilitation, maintenance and operations offer of Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which was already granted original proponent status. It likewise reflects the Duterte administration’s general skepticism on the private sector funding big infrastructure projects.

“The joint venture of Sumitomo and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is being closely considered due to its background and experience with the MRT 3,” the DOTr said in a statement.

The DOTr did not detail the target loan amount under the Japanese overseas development assistance (ODA) component. The department said the intention was for Sumitomo-Mitsubishi to “rehabilitate and restore the system to its original performance condition.”

“Due to under-investment in preventive maintenance and renewal works in recent years, the condition of MRT 3 has degraded to a state where maintenance works alone are no longer sufficient,” the DOTr said.

The department also clarified that these were direct talks with Japanese counterparts and that businessman Robert Sobrepeña was not involved. Sobrepeña, part of the group with private interests in the MRT 3, said last May that Sumitomo offered to rehabilitate the MRT 3 for $150 million (P7.5 billion).

https://business.inquirer.net/241699/japan-aid-eyed-mrt-3-rehab