If the decision was left entirely in the hands of the finance secretary, current portfolio holder Carlos G. Dominguez III on Wednesday said he would sell the government’s stake in the rickety claptrap known as the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3).
He told financial reporters rider experience in those times when the public sector held sway at the 16.9-kilometer-long rail line had been anything but pleasant and that buying out the private equity holders to try to make amends to the hundreds of thousands of riders that use the line everyday does not seem the proper thing to do.
“You know, that is certainly one option, but, if you look at the entire system, most of the other parts of the system are already privately owned. So, it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense if we buy only one part of it while the rest is owned by people in the private sector. It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to do that. It may look a little better if the old system is really operated by the private sector.
“You’ve seen how the government operated it. It was not a sterling example of public service,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez acknowledged the Department of Finance (DOF) even now aims to arrive at an agreement with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on the prospective full privatization or, alternately, the reacquisition of the rail line spanning the length of Edsa from North Avenue to Taft Avenue in Pasay City.
He said the DOF would defer to Transport ation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade on by the matter of the MRT 3, as that responsibility falls mainly with the agency.
“[This is] really under them. We are involved only because we own shares, and they owe us money through the bonds. Whatever the DOTr decides to do operationally will have effects on our financial position,” Dominguez said.
In August, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan bared plans to buy out the MRT 3 from its owners, pointing out that the move will go a long way in terms of proper maintenance on railway assets.
Companies who own MRT 3 stakes include: Astoria Investments, Anglo Philippine Holdings, Railco Investments, Metro Global Holdings Corporation, and Sheridan LRT Holdings. The privately held MRT Corporation (MRTC) is signatory to the build-lease-transfer agreement with the MRT 3.
“We are going to come up with a common decision. We had several meetings already with the DOTr, and we are moving toward coming to a common position. By the way, this does not [involve] Manny Pangilinan only. There are other parties involved here,” Dominguez said.
The government has a 77-percent economic interest in MRTC through Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).
On Monday the DBP said it was open to selling its interest in MRT 3. According to DBP President and CEO Cecilia Borromeo, unloading the bank’s MRT 3 interests is in its books.
In July the MPIC, in partnership with Ayala Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings Philippines Private Limited, formally submitted an unsolicited proposal.
The MRT 3 is maintained by Busan Universal Rail Inc., while the system’s rail replacement is handled by the government.
13 comments
Sa tingin ko mas mabuti pa nga na Ayala-MPIC na ang humawak sa MRT
Whoever it ends up with will be a lot better than this BURI. Further sign of this relic of the Abaya era’s desperate attempt to hold on is the sudden appearance of ‘supporters’ claiming that BURI has been doing a good job (*gagging noises*) who show up in every news item critical of BURI with the same profiles and the same comments. (I guess they’ll be changing that after reading this . . .) As Dominguez said, government has had its chance and failed miserably. The Duterte infra program already has its plate full, so continuing to maintain this white elephant will just be a burden. Privatization is the key.
Alam ko naman na boss mo si Chavez at Sobrepena eh. Pakita mo sakanila to ng malaman nila yung epekto ng corruption nila at yung hindi corrupt na BURI.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8edccc0bac6d637511f312879d2d81684da95837ffb2f621afad36f402ed4949.jpg
Is that the best you can do? Accuse me of working for Sumitomo-Sobrepena? But can you defend the findings of the COA that BURI is undercapitalized and their copntract with Abaya’s DOTC is not even registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission? Or that BURI has been unable to provide documents that they purchased genuine parts? Even if the issue is design flaws, I cannot expect an unqualified company to rebuild the entire MRT the only solution to design flaws and which MPIC has offered.
Open nga sila sa system audit para magka alaman na eh.
MPIC and other group like Ayala Corp., Macquarie etc have a solid track record of world class projects. Let them fix and manage the MRT.
Kahit nung kasisimula palang mag operate ang Mrt3 bigo na talaga ito dahil sa maling pag pa plano at sa design flaws na ang nagdala ay si Sobrepeña. Si Sobrepeña ang dapat na nag aayos ng sa design flaws dahil hindi na ito sakop ng maintenance sa pag aayos ng mali nila. Ang dapat na mangyari ay ang gobyerno na ang humawak sa Mrt3.
Dapat makulong yang si Sobrepeñas sa mga kakagawan niya kaya ganyan ang MRT ngayon.
Halata naman na ang Design flaws at riles ang problema talaga sa MRT3. Hindi kasi ito pinagplanuhang mabuti ni Sobrepeña yang MRT, basta siya makabulsa ng pera masaya na sya, wala na siyang pake sa mga pasaherong sasakay sa MRT niyang palpak.
It really befuddles me if the ownership issue is the problem with this MRT3. Sumitomo was the maintenance provider when MRT operations started in 1999 and replaced in 2011 by Abaya, et al. When this happened all the problems started and up to now its getting worst! Imagine 3-4x daily interruptions, derailments, stoppages, etc occur. When you have a Japanese car and bring it to a Korean repair shop do you think this makes sense? As some pundits would say the technical maintenance problems of MRT persists because these linger on who blinks first, the government or the majority owners for a sell-out or buy-out.
Oy Chavez bakit kasi hindi pa palitan yung lumang riles? Di na sakop ng maintenance yun eh. Nakakadagdag pa yun sa araw araw na problema ng MRT. Tapos tinatakot mo BURI na iteterminate contract nila?
Design Flaws ang problema nyang MRT3 katulad ng sinasabi ng BURI. Dapat na kaseng mapalitan ang mga riles na lumang luma na talaga. Eto namang si Sobrepeñas na kinukurakot lang ang pera ng MRT hindi na lang ipaayos sa riles.
Compare niyo naman sa performance ng Sumitomo na puro na lang kapalpakan may aberya dito, may aberya doon, at marami pang incidents ang mga nangyayari hindi nila napapansin. Samantalang pag BURI konting magkakamali grabe nila gipitin eh mas ok naman ang MRT ngaun kaysa Sumitomo pa ang maintenance provider ng MRT.