DOTC pores over Chinese bid for more MRT trains

The transportation department is evaluating a proposal by a Chinese train manufacturer for a P3.77-billion contract to expand the capacity of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT3), after another firm was disqualified and three others did not submit bids for the project.

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said the P3.76-billion proposal of China’s Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co. CNR Group had satisfied the eligibility requirements during the opening of its offer late Tuesday.

The DOTC plans to add 48 train cars to MRT3, which serves an estimated 600,000 passengers a day, well above its designed capacity of 350,000.

Operating since December 1999, MRT3 currently has 73 train cars serving passengers at 3-minute intervals. DOTC said the addition of new cars would cut the waiting time to 2.5-minute intervals. The 16.9-kilometer elevated railway has 13 stations starting from North Avenue in Quezon City and to Taft Avenue in Pasay City.

The DOTC’s bids and awards committee did not open the proposal of Chinese firm CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co. Ltd., whose submission lacked certain technical requirements.

CSR Zhuzhou is set to file a motion for reconsideration, Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Jose Perpetuo Lotilla told reporters after the opening of the proposal. He said the plan was for the DOTC to “resolve the (motion for reconsideration) as soon as possible”

With its compliance with the DOTC’s requirements, Dalian Locomotive’s proposal will now be evaluated by the agency. If it passes through this process, the company will be awarded the project, Lotilla said.

“This is a highly technical bid. We are talking about train systems. So there is a technical proposal and that is subject to postqualification,” the official added.

The DOTC pushed for the bidding after it decided to drop a plan to acquire second-hand trains from a Spanish manufacturer.

“We looked at our options for purchasing some of the coaches from Metro de Madrid, but it turns out that this would not have significantly improved the timeframe we are working on,” DOTC spokesperson Michael Sagcal said in a separate statement, adding:

“So we decided to continue with the ongoing procurement of new trains instead.  This should also result in lower maintenance costs.” With Inquirer Research