The Department of Transportation (DOTr), Sumitomo Corporation, and Oriental Consultants Global on Tuesday, May 30, signed the $130-million (P7.38 billion) extended contracts for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) until 2025.

The contracts will enable Sumitomo Corporation - the original designer, builder and initial maintenance provider of the MRT-3 – to provide rehabilitation and maintenance services to the line for the next 26 months, according to Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista.

Sumitomo will use four-car-train-sets from the existing three-car-sets that will significantly increase the daily ridership into more than half a million passengers a day, complementing the services of the EDSA Bus Carousel.

"We are more than signing a maintenance agreement—we are ensuring our railways are always in top condition, ensuring safety and convenience for our daily commuters," he stated Wednesday, May 31.

Overall, the rehabilitation project will make the rail line at par with the train systems of developed countries.

"What is more significant in extending the maintenance contracts for MRT 3 is ensuring trouble-free operations to Metro Manila’s second rapid transit line," Bautista pointed out.

The rehabilitation and maintenance extension contracts cover technical system support, maintenance, spare parts procurement, as well as the provision of other rehabilitation and capacity expansion services to MRT-3,.

All these should improve the system’s service reliability, capacity, and long-term sustainability.

The DOTr and Sumitomo Corporation signed MRT 3's Extended Maintenance Service along with a Variation Order Agreement, which documents changes or revisions to the original contract to improve the current MRT-3 System.

On the other hand, the Supervision Consultant Extension Contract with Oriental Consultants Global will extend the original contract’s lifetime and ensure the continuity of the supervision of the Maintenance Works of the MRT-3.

Sumitomo Corporation will continue to be the maintenance and rehabilitation provider of MRT-3 until July 2025, together with their technical partner, the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Rehabilitation works, which were not initially identified during the original rehabilitation project’s rapid scoping, are also covered in the contracts.

The Rehabilitation and Maintenance Supervision Consultant agreement between the DOTr, Oriental Consultants Global Co., Ltd. (OCG) and Tonichi Engineering Consultants Inc., was extended for 30 months, until October 2025.

This covers the supervision of rehabilitation and maintenance works, as well as the punchlisting and project close out of the Sumitomo Corporation.

The DOTr thanked the government of Japan, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), for its continued support of the MRT-3, which completed its first rehabilitation in December, 2021.

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