The Department of Transportation said it remains in discussions with Metro Pacific Investments Corp. with respect to the group’s unsolicited proposal to rehabilitate and operate the aging Metro Rail Transit Line 3.
“We are still in talks with them [MPIC]. I want lock, stock and barrel. I want to include the issue of equity and loans,” said DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade.
In September 2017, the DoTr granted the original proponent status to MPIC which offered to upgrade the MRT 3 system for P12.5 billion.
In 2011, MPIC offered to buy out the shares of Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines in MRT 3 for $1.1 billion.
The government, through Land Bank and DBP, owns a combined 80 percent economic interest in MRT 3, while the balance is held by creditors of Metro Rail Transit Corp.
MRT 3, which runs along Edsa from North Ave. in Quezon City to Taft Avenue, serves over 500,000 passengers a day, well beyond its rated capacity of 350,000.
