MRT expansion supplier wants faster court order

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The winning bidder for the Metro Rail Transit expansion project on Monday said that it wants a speedy resolution on the case that the Metro Rail Transit Corporation (MRTC) and the Metro Rail Transit Holdings against the Department of Transport and Communication.

The case, which was filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court, involved a 20-day temporary order of protection prohibiting the DOTC from procuring new trains for the MRT from the CNR Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co., the winning bidder in the MRT expansion worth P3.7 billion.

In a statement, the locomotive company said “hundreds of thousands” of commuters who use the MRT would suffer as the government’s right to purchase more trains is currently side-tracked with a lawsuit from the MRT’s private operator.

“Any attempts to scuttle and abort the MRT expansion project are improper,” the statement from CNR Dalian said. “CNR Dalian participated in an open bidding where Invitations to Bid were carried widely by big dailies in the Philippines.”

The locomotive company added opposing parties should have raised any queries or claims of “serious legal infirmities” over DOTC’s right to procure Light Rail Vehicles for the expansion project before the bidding.

“After being awarded the contract to supply LRV’s we were unnecessarily dragged into this (DOTC’s) legal entanglement and, lamentably, because of the delay, stand to be prejudiced because of something that is not within our control and which we are not privy to,” CNR Dalian said.

Robert Sobrepeña, former chairman of the MRTC, said there were cases when his group offered to supply trains to the MRT at no cost at the government, these were in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

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