Since
its establishment in 1999, the Metro Rail Transit System (MRT) has continued to
give service to their customer 24/7, trailing along EDSA up to North Avenue, it
has indeed helped commuters on getting to their destination.
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| with Atty. Michael Sagcal, DOTC spokesperson |
These days, several breakdowns have been reported, causing unwarranted delay of trips and also bringing hassle to
its passengers, reaching to the point where the government has to address and
give solution to the on-going problem.
The MRT-3, under the Public
Privatization Program (PPP), is entitled to be settled to a private company, with
the government helping to shoulder on expenses needed for maintenance of the railway
system.
Improvements underway
Commuters can expect small improvements
on the MRT-3, starting with the Beep cards of which will go full operation in
September, along with LRT-1 and 2, wherein a single stored-value card can be
used for all stations, according to Department of Transportation and
Communications (DOTC) spokesperson Atty. Michael Sagcal.
However, Sagcal said that if the
possibility of the consortiums will hasten the process for the cards, one of
the lines will run under the new system while the remaining can wait until it
is fully effective.
“Possibly within the next three
months, we’ll see these lines going on the migrating system for these three
lines”, Sagcal said on the Beep card implementation.
Another will be for the renovation
of the comfort rooms to be finished in September, where its facilities will be
improved as it will have a new look and equipment to be installed.
Other components for improvement on for the
MRT-3 are rolling stocks, conveyance, communications, and power supply, where
the funds will be collected from the earnings on the overall
Further changes will be observed by
next year and 2017, for instance trains will be improved and evaluated, with
Sagcal stating two trains at a time, which will begin by the first quarter of
2016 and others improvements throughout the succeeding year.
Though
a fare hike was imposed on the start of 2015, Sagcal explained that the funds
that will be held from the increase were not designed for immediate impact on
the upgrade of the railway systems.
“No possible shutdown”
Also
in line with the upgrade is of the tracks, being that they have not been
replaced since its placement and frequent usage, settling with more than 7,000
meters to be delivered by June.
“By
the end of the year, we have new rails that will be placed on the important
sections during at night, because we cannot replace [them] during operating
hours, so we have to find time to put it all into place”, quoted Sagcal.
With the replacement of the rails,
he assures that no shutdown will happen, as he said if it is unsafe for
passengers to ride, citing that only that minor improvements will occur on the
railway.
“We’ll only shutdown if it is unsafe
to ride; right now we can guarantee it’s still safe, meaning the most important
which are the trains, the rails for it and the signalling system. So as long as
these three are working properly, along with the other components, there is no
reason for the line to shut down,” he told.
Impending plan for buy-out
Being under a private company, the government
pays rentals which are included for the expenses in the maintenance of the
railway. DOTC has planned to buy-out MRT in order for full control.
“The owners (private sectors) would
just pay the equivalent of the remaining rentals, that’s about nine more years
left in the contract, so we’ll just pay them, get them out and bid-out the
operations. That’s the real solution as proposed by DOTC.
From previous reports, the supposed
buy-out, wherein the government is in need of P54 billion to regain the
majority hold of the railway, is still in the works, being that the budget has
been excluded for this year by Senate and Congress. But, the DOTC spokesperson said
that even President Benigno Aquino III agrees with the plan.
“We’re on the same page, [it is] the
right way to go for the longer term is government should own the facility, the
whole MRT-3 to have a more efficient entity”, Sagcal stated.
Pointing the difference of the
government and the private sector in terms of handling day to day operations,
the DOTC spokesperson said that the government still would want to take hold
“efficiency wise” for the control of the system.
He hopes that by next year, the
budget for the buy-out will be included on the list for the national funds for
allocation, for the short term projects on the components of the railway
system.
On the rehabilitation process, the
department seeks for a six month contract for the components to be bided out,
explaining the maintenance would be best kept in an entity for several years.
Sagcal has stated that bid-out for
the components can go through emergency procurement, where the department will
go through the Government Procurement Bonds Board (GPBB) and it will decide for
either the approval of the emergency.
“It rests on their hands if it is an
emergency or not. So in the meantime, what we’re doing is we’ll do a
transitional six month contract. So if hopefully the emergency contract for the
procurement of at least three years for maintenance contract,” Sagcal quoted.
Hopes for the system
Despite glitches on the system, the
MRT-3 still remains for commuters as reliable, as some have cited that it is
better because it is traffic-free and saves time to reach destination.
With the improvements and plans for
the railway, people will be expecting that their government will fulfil these
promises, as the taxes coming from their salaries were the reason for these
deductions. All stakeholders will be on the line – both the governing body’s
reputation and the citizens’ anticipation for change.
Only time will tell when all of the
stakeholders will realize their collective efforts were achieved with its
development.
