The Metro Rail Transit Corporation (MRTC) is a private consortium organized in June 1995. The consortium is composed of seven (7) Filipino-owned companies: Fil-Estate Management Inc (now Metro Global Holdings Corporation),
Ayala Land
Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) is a full line real estate firm based in the Philippines. It is a subsidiary of Ayala Corporation. It began as a division of Ayala Corporation until it was spun off and incorporated in 1988. It became publicly listed in ...
Inc, Ramcar Inc,
Greenfield Development Corporation of
Unilab, Anglo-Philippine Holdings Corporation,
National Book Store Group, Allante Realty and Development Inc, and DBH Inc. The Metro Rail Transit Corporation owns the
Manila Metro Rail Transit System Line 3 running along the EDSA corridor. MRTC was the original contractor for the EDSA MRT-3 Project. It runs the MRT-3 in coordination with the
Department of Transportation under a 25-year Build-Lease-Transfer contract or BLT Agreement, which will end in 2025.
History
Beginnings
The
MRT Line 3 project, originally known as the EDSA LRT III project, was planned by the then-Department of Transportation and Communications (later the
Department of Transportation) in 1989. A letter of intent was submitted by Eli Levin of Eli Levin Enterprises, Inc. to the DOTC in 1990, under a
build-operate-transfer scheme. Eli Levin incorporated EDSA LRT Corporation Ltd. (ELCL), a
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
–based consortium consisting of ten foreign companies.
The bidding for the EDSA LRT III project started in February 1991. Out of five companies that participated in the pre-bidding round, ELCL was the only company that met the requirements. On July 16, 1991, ELCL submitted a proposal for the EDSA LRT III project. The DOTC and ELCL signed a build-lease-transfer agreement on November 7. A revised and restated BLT agreement was signed on September 22, 1992. Under the agreement, the EDSA LRT III project will be covered in two phases: Phase 1 spans from in
Quezon City
Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...
until in
Pasay
Pasay, officially the City of Pasay (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 Philippine census, 2020 census, it has a ...
, while Phase 2 spans from North Avenue to , eventually meeting up with the
LRT Line 1.
Phase 2, however, was shelved by the
Arroyo administration in favor of the
LRT Line 1 north extension.
Formation of MRTC and construction of Line 3
In June 1995, a newly formed consortium of reputable Philippine companies purchased an 85% stake in ELCL through EDSA LRT Holdings, Inc. (ELHI), a Philippine-registered company. ELHI also formed and owned MRT Development Corporation (MRT DEVCO), which acquired the development and commercial rights to develop the 16-hectare depot site and the 13 stations.
MRTC was formed for the purpose of designing, constructing, testing, commissioning, and maintaining the MRT Line 3.
In 1995, ELCL's name was changed to Metro Rail Transit Corporation Ltd. ("Metro Rail"), and ELHI was correspondingly renamed MRT Holdings, Inc in 1999.
Construction of the MRT Line 3 project began on October 15, 1996, with Sumitomo Corp as the main contractor and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as the civil works sub-contractor. A revised build-lease-transfer agreement was signed on August 7, 1997. An amended turnkey agreement was later signed on September 16, 1997, with a consortium of companies (including
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the prede ...
and
Sumitomo Corporation
is one of the largest worldwide '' sōgō shōsha'' general trading companies, and is a diversified corporation. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is a member company of the Sumitomo Group.
It is listed on three Japanese stock exchange ...
). A separate agreement was signed with ČKD Dopravní Systémy (ČKD Tatra, now part of Siemens AG), the leading builder of trams and light rail vehicles for the Eastern Bloc, on rolling stock. MRTC also retained the services of ICF Kaiser Engineers and Constructors (now Earthtech) to provide program management and technical oversight of the services for the design, construction management, and commissioning.
From September 1995 to March 2002, MRTC oversaw the construction, financing and operational management of the project. JP Morgan and the management team of MRTC negotiated with the support of a team of technical experts and other advisors in arranging project financing totaling US$675.5-million from the
Japan Bank for International Cooperation
The , JBIC, is a Japanese public financial institution and export credit agency that was created on October 1, 1999, through the merger of the Japan Export-Import Bank (JEXIM) and the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF).
JBIC became the ...
(formerly
Japan Export-Import Bank or JEXIM),
Investiční a poštovní banka, a consortium of Foreign Currency Deposit Unit (FCDU) banks led by
Citibank
Citibank, N.A. ("N. A." stands for "National bank (United States), National Association"; stylized as citibank) is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of Citigroup, a financial services multinational corporation, multinational corporation. Ci ...
,
Bank of the Philippine Islands
The Bank of the Philippine Islands ('';'' '','' commonly known as BPI; ) is a universal bank in the Philippines. It is the oldest bank in both the Philippines and Southeast Asia. It is the fourth largest bank in terms of assets, the second lar ...
,
Far East Bank,
ING Bank
ING Group N.V. () is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, wholesale banking, private ban ...
,
Metrobank and the Philippine Government under a
Sovereign credit
Sovereign credit is the credit of a sovereign country backed by the financial resources of that state. Sovereign credit is the opposite of sovereign debt. Fiat money is sovereign credit and sovereign bonds are sovereign debts. When money buys bon ...
basis whose blended all-in financing cost amounted to only 4.72% p.a. over the entire life of the loan facilities. On October 17, 1997, MRTC obtained financial closure of the loans for the project.
On December 10, 1997, a maintenance agreement was signed between MRTC,
Sumitomo Corporation
is one of the largest worldwide '' sōgō shōsha'' general trading companies, and is a diversified corporation. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is a member company of the Sumitomo Group.
It is listed on three Japanese stock exchange ...
, and
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the prede ...
. Under the agreement, the maintenance provider will provide maintenance and repair services for a period of ten years for the MRT Line 3.
On December 15, 1999, the section of the MRT Line 3 from to was inaugurated,
with the line being fully operational on July 20, 2000.
MRTC was obligated to lease the system to DOTC, who would operate the system, with MRTC providing the maintenance. DOTC was required to make payments of rental fees to MRTC, and these were broken down into several different portions. One significant part was intended to repay the loans taken out to finance the project, in which the loans were fully repaid in 2010.
Contemporary history
Plans to buy out the MRT-3 from MRTC to the government were initiated, but this was not pursued. On November 15, 2010,
Metro Pacific Investments Corporation
Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) is a Philippine unit investment holding company of First Pacific Company Limited through Metro Pacific Holdings, Inc. MPIC through its subsidiaries, provides water, sanitation, and sewerage servic ...
entered into a cooperation agreement with Fil-Estate Corporation to pursue the expansion programs for the MRT3. However, it did not materialize as DOTC's cooperation could not be secured then.
In Oct 2012, MRT3 was carrying up to 600,000 passengers a day when DOTC cancelled the maintenance contract with Sumitomo / TESP and appointed local unqualified groups to handle the maintenance for the MRT3. As a result, the condition of the MRT Line 3 (MRT-3) deteriorated and received a barrage of complaints from loyal passengers due to severe lack of support and maintenance from its administrators. Technical problems became more and more frequent due to neglect and poor maintenance by contractors appointed by the then-
Department of Transportation and Communications
The Department of Transportation (DOTr; ) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the maintenance and expansion of viable, efficient, and dependable transportation systems as effective instruments for national re ...
. A senator quoted, "People have to wait for one hour just to get inside a cramped broken train". A fare hike was also pushed in 2015 almost doubling the fare cost for commuters with the intention of collecting additional revenues to fund the improvement of its services. The line's issues were resolved through a comprehensive rehabilitation project which returned
Sumitomo Corporation
is one of the largest worldwide '' sōgō shōsha'' general trading companies, and is a diversified corporation. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is a member company of the Sumitomo Group.
It is listed on three Japanese stock exchange ...
as the maintenance provider of the line since 2019.
The rehabilitation of the entire system including replacement of all rails has been completed.
Project Funding Components
A breakdown of the key funders and
tranche
In structured finance, a tranche () is one of a number of related securities offered as part of the same transaction. In the financial sense of the word, each bond is a different slice of the deal's risk. Transaction documentation (see indent ...
funding components of the MRT-3 Phase-1 Project were as follows:
See also
*
Metro Manila Rapid Transit
**
Line 1
**
Line 2
**
Line 3
**
Line 4
**
Line 5
**
Line 6
**
Line 7
**
Line 8
**
Line 9
**
PNR Metro Commuter Line
The PNR Metro Commuter Line was a commuter rail line operated by the Philippine National Railways. It was first inaugurated as the Metro Manila Commuter Service in 1970, and originally served the North Main Line and the South Main Line, as wel ...
*
List of rail transit stations in the Greater Manila Area
*
Manila Light Rail Transit System
The Manila Light Rail Transit System, commonly known as the LRT, is an urban rail transit system that primarily serves Metro Manila, Philippines. Although categorized as a light rail system because it originally used light rail vehicles, it pre ...
*
Philippine National Railways
The Philippine National Railways (PNR) (; ) is a government-owned and controlled corporation, state-owned railway company in the Philippines which operates one commuter rail service between Laguna (province), Laguna and Quezon, and local servic ...
*
Department of Transportation (DOTr)
*
Transportation in the Philippines
Transportation in the Philippines covers the transportation methods within the archipelagic nation of over 7,600 islands. From a previously underdeveloped state of transportation, the government of the Philippines has been improving transport ...
References
External links
Official MRT-3 website archived October 15, 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...
{{Transportation in the Philippines
Department of Transportation (Philippines)
Transportation companies of the Philippines
Companies based in Pasig
Rail transportation in Metro Manila
Privately held companies of the Philippines
1995 establishments in the Philippines
Companies established in 1995