Megabuck deals for rail, airport maintenance up for bids — DOTr

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The Department of Transportation is on track to bid out the operation and maintenance (O&M) projects of key rail and aviation infrastructure within the year.

The rail system projects include the P71.7 billion Metro Manila Subway Project (MMSP); P171.78 billion North and South Commuter; Metro Rail Transit line 3, and Light Rail Transit line 2 (LRT-2)

The aviation sector’s O&M contract will be for the Davao International Airport and Siargao airport.  A separate O&M is meant for the Edsa Busway system.

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” We’re pushing to bid out Davao Airport.  Remember, we signed an agreement with IFC for Davao and new Siargao Airport,” Timothy John Batan, DOTr undersecretary for planning and project development, told Malaya Business Insight last week during an ambush interview in Makati City.

“We’re also trying to sell the PPP (contract) for MRT-3 and LRT 2 within the year,” Batan said. He didn’t release any estimate on the PPP contract.

Ownership of the MRT-3 will be transferred to the government under the Build-Lease-Transfer (BLT) contract, as the 25-year agreement with the private consortium Metro Rail Transit Corp. (MRTC) will end in July 2025.

“The only difference is the ownership and by the second half (this year), we (government) will own it (MRT 3. Nothing will change ( as far as rail operation is concerned)” Batan said.

Eventually, the DOTr will pursue the privatization of the rail system.

However, DOTr has no final decision yet whether or not to combine the bidding for the O&M of MRT-3 and LRT-2. “We’re still studying it, feasibility studies are ongoing, he said.

Data from the Public Private Partnership Center (PPPC) said that the construction of the P71.69 MMSP is under way and once the rail assets are completed and tested, they will be handed over to a private sector partner under a PPP arrangement. The private partner will be tasked with operating and maintaining the assets in line with defined performance standards, Batan said.

Last week, the DOTr, together with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Embassy of Japan, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the contractor, Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co. (SMCC), officially marked the start of the tunneling work for the Contract Package 103 of the so-called ‘Project of the Century’, as they led the launching of the Metro Manila Subway Project’s tunnel boring machine (TBM) at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon.

DOTr is targeting partial operation of North-South Commuter Rail in 2028. NSCR aims to connect Clark International Airport in the north to Calamba, Laguna in the south, passing through Bulacan and Pampanga Provinces in Region 3 and through Metro Manila.

DOTr and the International Finance Corp. of the World Bank Group last October signed a Transaction Advisory Service Agreement (TASA) for the modernization of the Davao International Airport to determine the best way to rehabilitate, expand, operate, and maintain the project.

Last year, the DOTr successfully auctioned the operation and maintenance of the country’s premier airport, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and two regional airports in Laguindigan and Bohol Panglao.

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