MANILA – President Aquino is blaming the government’s private partner, Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC), for the deterioration of the ageing Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3).
In his final State of the Nation Address (SONA), the President said MRTC failed to meet its obligations in maintaining the quality of the mass rail system.
Operations of the MRT have been criticized due to congestion and technical issues, but Aquino said the riding public has placed much of the blame on government, and not on the system’s private owner.
“Bihira ang nagbabanggit na may katuwang tayong pribadong korporasyon, na naalala ang kanilang mga karapatan pero tila ba nalimot ang kanilang mga obligasyon,” he said in his speech.
Aquino said that in 2008, the private company merely “painted” the trains and did not complete what was supposed to be a “general overhaul.”
“Sa pagwalang bahalang ito, parang ginarantiyang masisira ang tren. ‘Di po ba miski sinong kumpanya, sinisigurong masusulit ang kanilang investment? Pero hinayaan lang nilang lumala ng lumala ang sitwasyon hanggang umabot na sa puntong ipinasa na sa atin ng pang orada-orada ang pagsasaayos ng MRT,” he said.
“itinuturong dahilan umano ang pagtitipid ng mga pribadong sektor dahilan upang bumaba ang klase ng serbisyo ng MRT bilang isa sa pangunahing transportasyon ng mga pilipino”
He noted that when government pursued purchasing new MRT coaches, MRTC tried to stop it by filing a case before the courts.
“Ang trabaho ng pribado ipinasa sa atin, ang solusyon naman natin, hinarang nila. Malinaw nang hindi magtatagpo ang agenda natin at ng MRTC,” he said.
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is in the process of buying out the MRT, following the President’s order in March last year that the Department of Finance and DOTC should buy out MRT from MRTC pursuant to a build-lease-transfer (BLT) agreement.
The DOTC said the prototype of the new coaches is expected to arrive at the Port of Manila by the second week of August.
After testing, delivery of the 48 brand new train cars is expected to start in the first quarter of 2016.
(c)abscbn
