Metro Rail Transit Line 3 maintenance provider Busan Universal Rail Inc. is a “fake.”
This was the assertion made by Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta Representative Jericho Nograles, who claimed that BURI was illegally occupying space at the MRT-3 depot because there was no contract showing that it was officially the train line’s maintenance provider.
In a radio interview, Nograles said that the P3.8-billion contract that exists with the Department of Transportation (formerly the Department of Transportation and Communications) names Busan Transportation Corp., Edison Development and Construction, Tramat Mercantile Inc., TMICorp. Inc., and Castan Corp. Joint Venture (“Joint Venture of Busan”) as the MRT3’s maintenance provider.
The DOTr report also said that BURI has a nominal 4.7-percent share in the joint venture.
In fact, Nograles said, BURI was incorporated merely three days before the contract was signed, which means that it was not legally part of the government bidding process— which former transportation officials supposedly helped facilitate, according to the graft case filed by the DOTr against them.
Nograles said he does not know why BURI’s services have not yet been terminated when it has “done nothing” to address the MRT 3’s poor performance, marked by “technical problems” that interrupt operations almost on a daily basis.
On Oct. 20, the DOTr has already served BURI a notice to terminate its maintenance contract. The maintenance provider fired back with a statement that said DOTr’s allegations are “bereft of factual and legal basis.”
Nograles said the existing service contract was non-binding because it was signed by former undersecretary for Operations Edwin Lopez instead of former Transportation chief Joseph Emilio Abaya.
The lawmaker is among those actively assailing the glitch-ridden train service’s maintenance providers and managing agency.
In August, he filed a resolution seeking a probe into the alleged purchase and installation of fake train safety equipment on the MRT3. In May, he asked Congress to look into the unusable coaches purchased by the government from China.
He also released statements criticizing the irregularities in the management of the MRT3.