LRTA asked to junk company’s bid for LRT-2 maintenance

A consumer welfare group on Monday urged the Light Rail Transit Authority  (LRTA) to annul the bid offer of a private firm for the maintenance contract of the LRT Line 2 as it raised safety concerns in the train line’s operations.

In a statement, the National Coalition of Filipino Consumers (NCFC) claimed that the project plan of the Busan-EDC Joint Venture was merely “copied from the technical specifications of the breakdown-ridden” Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3).

Oliver San Antonio, NCFC counsel and spokesman, also insisted that the firm’s offer was an “anomalous bid” which “didn’t meet the requirements” of the LRTA for the overhead light train which plies the Santolan-Recto route and vice versa.

At the same time, he called on Jose Jobel V. Belarmino, chair of the LRTA bids and awards committee (BAC), not to put the commuters’ safety at risk by awarding the maintenance contract to a “noncompliant company.”

“It may even jeopardize… and compromise [the] safety [of the commuters]. If ever, but hopefully not, blood will be in their hands,” San Antonio warned.