San Miguel Corp., the proponent and builder of Metro Rail Transit Line 7, said it is also interested in rehabilitating, operating and maintaining MRT Line 3.
“If the government is willing, we can submit. We have expressed our interest long ago,” San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said.
Ang said he was willing to work with the group of businessmen Manuel Pangilinan, Jaime Zobel de Ayala and Henry Sy for the MRT 3 upgrade.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp., a company led by Pangilinan, said last month it would submit a new offer to rehabilitate and upgrade MRT 3.
MPIC submitted a proposal in 2011 to the Transport Department for P524-million investment to rehabilitate and upgrade MRT 3.
MRT 3, which runs along Edsa from North Ave. in Quezon City to Taft Ave. in Pasay City, serves more than 500,000 passengers a day, beyond its rated capacity of 350,000.
The line has a fleet of 73 Czech-made air-conditioned rail cars.
San Miguel is currently building the P69.30 billion MRT 7 project, a 23-kilometer elevated railway from North Ave., Quezon City to San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan province.
The project will have 14 stations, namely: Quezon North Avenue Joint Station; Quezon Memorial Circle; University Avenue; Tandang Sora; Don Antonio; Batasan; Manggahan; Dona Carmen; Regalado; Mindanao Avenue; Quirino; Sacred Heart; Tala; and San Jose del Monte.
Once the MRT-7 is built, it will only take 30 minutes to commute end-to-end, compared to the current two-hour travel time.
The project also has a road component”•a 23-kilometer stretch that will start at the Balagtas Interchange of North Luzon Expressway and end in an intermodal terminal in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan.
This will provide provincial buses with an alternate route to San Jose and will help decongest Edsa.