PH, Japan governments forging deal for MRT-3 maintenance

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) today said that high level talks with the Japanese government is currently underway to negotiate for the return of Sumitomo Corporation as maintenance provider of MRT-3.

“High-level discussions with the Government of Japan are ongoing to pave the way for DOTr’s direct engagement of Sumitomo Corporation and its technical partner Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, under a Government to Government (G2G) Official Development Assistance (ODA) platform,” DOTr said.

It added that a government-to-government agreement is set to be signed before the year ends.

“Sumitomo and Mitsubishi Heavy designed, built, and maintained the MRT-3 in its first 12 years of operations,” DOTr said.

The contract will be a three-year deal for the “rehabilitation and restoration of the system to its original performance standards.”

DOTr added that it is currently studying the unsolicited proposal of Metro Pacific Light Rail Corporation (MPLRC) to operate and maintain (O&M) MRT-3 for 30 years.

“The proposal will soon be endorsed to NEDA for further evaluation,” DOTr said.

https://www.update.ph/2017/11/ph-japan-governments-forging-deal-for-mrt-3-maintenance/23004

DOTr to bring back original MRT maintenance providers

The Department of Transportation has announced a four-point strategy to improve the services of the Metro Rail Transit 3, which includes engaging a former maintenance contractor for the train line.

"The Department of Transportation is taking bold and strategic steps to solve the problems that have been plaguing the MRT-3 for years," the agency said in a statement released Wednesday.

Among the steps that the DOTr had taken was to terminate the maintenance service contract of Busan Universal Rail Inc.

The contract with BURI was terminated on November 6 following its failure to overhaul MRT-3's train cars and to procure spare parts, leading to glitches and incidents during the 22 months that the company maintained the train system.

"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," the DOTr said.

Maintenance Transition Team

Following the termination of BURI's contract, the DOTr created a maintenance transition team (MTT) that would maintain the MRT-3 for three to six months while looking for a new maintenance service provider.

The MTT directly hired more than 450 former BURI employees to make sure the team has necessary human resources.

"After months of delayed and partial salaries, the MTT has paid the direct hire their salaries in full and on time, which has boosted their morale," the government agency said.

RELATED: MRTC, Sumitomo eye MRT-3 rehab

Return of Sumitomo, Mitsubishi Heavy

Meanwhile, the DOTr is also conducting high-level discussions with the Japanese government for the possible return of Sumitomo Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as maintenance service provider of the MRT-3.

Sumitomo and Mitsubishi were the original service providers of the train system for its first 12 years of operation.

The Philippine government is hoping to close a government-to-government agreement with Japan before the end of the year.

The DOTr said the system's problems in recent years were due to short-term and fragmented maintenance contracts. To address this, the agency is pursuing a 30-year operation and maintenance proposal for the MRT-3.

"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," the DOTr said.

Last week, the DOTr filed plunder charges against former Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and other former members of the Aquino Cabinet over the allegedly anomalous maintenance contract for MRT-3. Roxas was Transportation secretary before being appointed to head the Department of the Interior and Local Government in 2012.

Former Bids and Awards Committee and BURI officials were also charged over the allegedly anomalous contact.

RELATED: DOTr bares persons of interest in MRT sabotage

House okays Quezon-Bicol expressway construction

UNISAN, Quezon – The proposal to construct the Quezon-Bicol Expressway to be called QuBEx or House Bill 599 has been approved by the House Committee on Public Works and Highways.

House Minority Floor Leader and Quezon 3rd District Representative Danilo E. Suarez said the creation of the expressway shall be financed, constructed, operated and maintained under a Build-Operate-Transfer scheme.

The Quezon solon added that the QuBEx shall link the provinces of Quezon with the Bicol region starting from Malicboy in Pagbilao, Quezon and terminating in the province of Sorsogon in Bicol.

Suarez also added the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Engineering District concerned shall construct the connector road for the purpose of linking the terminus of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) Toll Road 4 (TR4) in Lucena City and the entrance of the QuBex in Malicboy.

The amount necessary to defray the cost of undertaking and completing the feasibility study of the project and other activities relative to the QuBEX shall be included in the annual General Appropriation Act.

Suarez also said that he already filed a bill to transfer the national government offices from its present location to the town of General Nakar, Quezon.

Geographically, Gen Nakar has a land area of 1,343.75 sq. kms., slightly smaller than that of Cavite which has a land area of 1,427.06 sq. kms.  Gen. Nakar also has the existing national road, the Marikina-Infanta Road. (Danny J. Estacio)

PH railway footprint to quadruple by 2022

The Department of Transportation is seeking to complete more than 320 kilometers of railway projects by 2022— more than four times the current footprint—in Luzon and Mindanao.

John Batan, DOTr assistant secretary for railways, said in recent forum that projects to be completed by the time President Duterte steps down would include the Philippine National Railways’ rail project to the Clark Freeport Zone (106 km), the PNR Manila to Los Baños, Laguna (72 km), the Mindanao railway project’s Tagum-Davao-Digos phase 1 (102-km) and the Light Rail Transit Line 2 extension.

Also included in the list are the LRT-1 extension to Cavite (11.7 km), being built by private concessionaire Light Rail Manila Corp. and the Metro Rail Transit Line 7 to Bulacan that is being built by San Miguel Corp.

The Philippines currently has a railway footprint of 77 km through LRT1, LRT2, MRT3 and the PNR. All projects mainly serve Metro Manila.

This has come down from a once robust network that spanned 900 km in the 1970s, with lines running all the way to La Union province in the north to Legazpi City in the Bicol region in the south. Several of the projects were revived under the Aquino administration’s Public- Private Partnership (PPP) program.

Batan, who noted that projects were ahead of schedule either in terms of implementation and planning, said the DOTr was also hoping to partially complete railway projects as part of a massive 2,555-km pipeline.
Including the aforementioned projects and partially completed lines, the Philippines would have a railway footprint of 1,900 km by 2022.

These included the partial completion of the PNR-Bicol (581km), the Mindanao railway project (1,429 km), Cebu railway line (116 km) and the Metro Manila subway project (30 km).

Batan said the railway project pipeline was valued at around P1 trillion, a big slice of the P8 trillion in infrastructure projects the Duterte administration had identified.

He said a core principle was to increase connectivity to areas outside Metro Manila, helping these “become more viable destinations for investment.”

Some of these projects were cited in the 2014 “Roadmap for Transport Infrastructure Development for Metro Manila and its Surrounding Areas,” which was prepared by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and the National Economic and Development Authority.

This same study included the “dream plan” of P2.6 trillion worth of infrastructure projects until 2030.

Among the document’s highlights was the often-cited P2.4 billion in daily losses for Metro Manila alone due to road congestion. Left unchecked, that would balloon to P6 billion daily by 2030.

Quirino Grandstand

DPWH eyes P50-B road project

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) disclosed a plan to pursue a P50-billion road project that would connect Metro Manila to key provincial areas that ring the Laguna Lake.

The project was dubbed the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network Project, which would be studied with the support of a technical assistance loan from the Asian Development Bank.

Emil K. Sadain, DWPH undersecretary handling the unified project management office, said during a business forum last week the ADB loan for the feasibility study was approved last October and the loan agreement was signed Nov. 1 this year.

Moreover, the DPWH expects the submission of technical proposals for roads and bridges on Dec. 1, 2017.

According to the DPWH, the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network would span 90 kilometers and will link Bicutan in Taguig, Metro Manila, to Los Baños in Laguna and several towns in Rizal.

The project’s implementation period will start from 2018 through 2026, according to the DPWH.

The project appears to bear components of the Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike public-private partnership (PPP) project, a P123-billion undertaking that was shelved last year after private sector bidders backed out.

The Laguna Lakeshore PPP was comprised of three major, separate projects. It had a massive flood control dike to protect communities along Laguna Lake and parts of Metro Manila, a 47-kilometer tollroad linking Taguig in Metro Manila to Los Baños, Laguna, and a 700-hectare land reclamation component on Laguna Lake.

Following its failure, the DPWH decided to review the project and pursue its components separately.

The three groups that qualified for the PPP and collectively did not submit bid offers were Team Trident comprised of Ayala Land Inc., SM Prime Holdings Inc., Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. and Megaworld Corp; San Miguel Corp., and the Alloy Pavi Hanshin LLEDP Consortium comprised of Malaysia’s MTD Group, South Korea’s Hanshin and the family of former Sen. Manuel Villar Jr.

They backed out due to the complex nature of the project alongside legal and political uncertainties—the bidding took place months before President Duterte assumed power in July 2016.

According to the DPWH’s website, the Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike remained under study.

One of its crucial components was a proposed flood control dike. The component was designed to protect about 800,000 people in Laguna and parts of Metro Manila. The DPWH estimated that it would also save an average of P8.1 billion in flood-related damage every year.



Read more: http://business.inquirer.net/241525/dpwh-eyes-p50-b-road-project#ixzz5Dwa9kyc8
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Informal settlers in 38 Manila barangays must give way

The construction of the P23.3-billion North Luzon and South Luzon Expressway (NLEX-SLEX) connector road project will affect 3,500 informal settlers in 38 barangays in Manila, the local government said as it served notice to the families who may be asked to relocate soon.

The eight-kilometer road project will extend the NLEX southward, from the end of Segment 10 of C3 Road in Caloocan City to PUP Sta. Mesa in Manila.

It will affect 1,043 privately owned lots with a total land area of 87,174.61 square meters, City Hall said in a recent statement.

The new road will also connect the common point of Skyway Stage 3, running mostly along the Philippine National Railways track, with interchanges on C3 in Caloocan City and España in Manila.

Affected districts

Based on estimates made by NLEX Corp., 85 percent of the road alignment would pass through 38 barangays in Districts 2, 3, 4 and

Construction will start in 2018 and is expected to be finished by 2020.

A detailed time table for the construction is expected to be provided by NLEX next week.

The city government will handle the traffic management during the construction.

Mayor Joseph Estrada said he would fully support the project since it would ease traffic in the metropolis, and committed to help the builders in the acquisition of road right-of-way and in relocating affected informal settlers.

But Estrada stressed that the affected families should be given relocation sites before demolitions could proceed. Aie Balagtas See

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/942802/informal-settlers-in-38-manila-barangays-must-give-way

SMC looks to expand SLEX, Skyway, NAIAex

San Miguel Corporation said Wednesday it was waiting for the government's go-signal to implement expansion plans for several tollways.

SMC aims to expand the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), Skyway system, NAIA Expressway (NAIAX) and the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road.

"All technical studies for the expansion of all our southern Metro Manila toll roads are now complete and ready for construction. We're just waiting to get final approval for each of these projects from the Toll Regulatory Board," SMC president Ramon S. Ang, said.

Ang said all of the projects can be finished within 3 years.

SMC plans to add a 5th lane to both the southbound and northbound lanes of SLEX to Calamba exit, effectively widening it to ten lanes.

It also plans to widen the elevated Skyway from Alabang to Sucat by two lanes, as well as extend it to the Alabang viaduct.

The company is also looking to extend the new NAIA Expressway all the way to Bonifacio Global City, and extend its ramps from the NAIA Terminal 1 and 2 areas all the way to SM Sucat, where it can link up with the C5 extension.

Ang said SMC is also planning to build a down ramp from the northbound elevated Skyway towards C5/BGC.

"These are all just improvements, extensions of existing expressways, so we are hoping that the TRB can review and act on our submissions at the soonest possible time," Ang said.