MRT maintenance provider cries foul over allegations of incompetence

Busan Universal Rail Inc. (BURI), the maintenance contractor of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3), is crying foul over allegations of incompetence hurled at the company by Transportation Undersecretary Cesar B. Chavez.

"We seek to correct the misinformation repeatedly being spread by DOTr Undersecretary Chavez," BURI said in an emailed statement.

"He keeps rehashing the wrong information as if to condition the public into viewing BURI negatively and to baselessly support his unjust plan to terminate BURI's contract," it added.

Chavez earlier said the Office of the Undersecretary for Railways (OUR) signed a position paper calling for the termination of the contract with BURI.

According to a resolution filed by PBA party-list Representative Jericho Jonas B. Nograles, BURI supposedly purchased P4 million of supposedly fake train safety equipment from Diamond Pearl Manufacturing late last year.

"To set the record straight, it is untrue that BURI has not been procuring proper spare parts. When BURI started its contract in January 2016, only 40 of MRT's 72 cars were running," BURI said.

"These 40 cars were enough for only 13 three-car trains. The other cars were inoperable and had many missing parts," it added.

BURI said it has since restored 28 cars to deliver a minimum of 18 trains for revenue operation.

"These became possible only because BURI aggressively executed its parts purchase plan," it said.

"BURI has not been remiss in its maintenance operations, and the company weighs its responsibility seriously because it is important for the government's capacity expansion objective," it added. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News