Poe wants to scrutinize MRT-3 maintenance deal

SENATOR Grace Poe wants a careful review of the newly awarded maintenance contract for the Metro Rail Transit- (MRT-3) to ensure that it was   not only above board, “but more importantly, that the winning contractor is competent and qualified to get the job done.”

Poe noted that the P3.81-billion maintenance contract awarded to a Korean-Filipino joint venture was done during the holiday season “when the people’s attention is elsewhere.”

READ: Korean-Filipino group bags P3.81-b MRT-3 maintenance contract

“We undoubtedly need a new maintenance provider to help address the many problems that have caused the suffering of our daily commuters, who deserve public transport that is efficient and reliable. The general overhaul of the MRT trains and the replacement of the signaling system are also long overdue,” she said in a statement on Thursday.

“However, the DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communications) owes the public the assurance that the 3-year, multi-billion peso contract is not only above board, but, more importantly, that the winning contractor is competent and qualified to get the job done,” the senator said.

Poe said she would ask the DOTC to furnish   the Senate committee on public services a copy of the contract and related matters to help ensure that government funds are spent judiciously and the interests of the riding public are protected.

“A careful review will help banish speculation on the fact that the contract was awarded during the holiday season, when the people’s attention is elsewhere. We certainly can no longer bear a repeat of the several unreliable and dubious maintenance contracts the DOTC entered into in the past,” she further said.

Poe chairs the Senate subcommittee on transport, investigating the sorry state of the MRT.