The tollways arm of infrastructure conglomerate Metro
Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) will spend some P116.2 billion to build new expressways and expand its current portfolio of thoroughfares across the Philippines.
Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. President Rodrigo E. Franco said this would allow the company to cement its dominance in the tollways sector in the Philippines, concurrent with its aim of expanding its footprint in the Asean.
Combined, the company will invest roughly P116.2 billion in infrastructure development deals, bulk of which are under the government’s flagship infrastructure thrust, the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program.
The company has the concession rights to build P18-billion Connector Road, the P10.7-billion C-5 South Link Road, the P50-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax), the P27-billion Cebu Third Bridge and the P10.5-billion Segment 10 of the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex).
“These investments will run up to 2020. It will be funded mostly by bank loans. With regard to bonds, we’ll see, but we are leaning more toward corporate financing,” Franco told the BusinessMirror in an interview.
He said this will aid his company in keeping its current market share of “over 60 percent” in the toll roads sector, with about 213 kilometers of expressways in Luzon.
Currently, it operates the 97-kilometer Nlex, the 94-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, the 14-kilometer Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway (Cavitex) and the 8-kilometer Subic Freeport Expressway. When built, the P116.2 billion worth of infrastructure deals—locations of which are scattered around Luzon and the Visayas—will add a total of 75 km to its current portfolio, bringing the total stretch to 288 km.
“It will definitely increase, and we will continue to look for other projects to develop to keep our market share,” Franco said.
He cited PPP deals, such as the Central Luzon Expressway (CLEx) and the Plaridel Bypass Toll Road, as example.
Specifically, the company is interested in vying for the second phase of the CLEx, as the first phase of the toll road-development project will be implemented under a loan from Japan.
Phase I will involve the construction of a thoroughfare that will interconnect Tarlac and Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija. The government has earmarked P14.94 billion for this venture.
It will be funded by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Authority (Jica). The contract for the additional 30 km of road, which will be auctioned off by the end of the year, is expected to be completed by 2018.
The second phase of the thoroughfare, meanwhile, involves the construction of another road that will interconnect Cabanatuan to San Jose City. It carries a P14.2-billion price tag.
Phase II also involves the operations and maintenance contract for the expressway. It will be auctioned off under the PPP Program of the Aquino administration. The feasibility of the 35.70-km road is still under review. The Plaridel Bypass Toll Road is an arterial road of 24.61 km, which will link the Nlex in Balagtas, Bulacan with the Philippine-Japan Friendship Highway, also called Maharlika Highway in San Rafael, Bulacan.
It will bypass the town proper of Plaridel and urban areas of Pulilan and Baliuag along the existing Maharlika Highway, thus, alleviate the perennial traffic congestion at the core urban areas along Philippine-Japan Friendship Highway road section from Plaridel to San Rafael, Bulacan.
The bypass road will traverse the vast agricultural lands of five municipalities in Bulacan, namely, Balagtas, Guiguinto, Plaridel, Bustos and San Rafael.
These projects, according to Franco, are the native expansion initiatives for his company’s current tollways portfolio.
“We’re looking at these projects, which, I think, will be up to the next admin to implement,” he said.
MPIC Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said his company will place more bets on PPP deals when the next government comes in.
Pangilinan said his group will bid for toll and water projects under the flagship infrastructure program. But while the fate of the key infrastructure thrust of the Aquino administration is still in limbo, given that a law that would institutionalize the program was practically “dead” in Congress, the group of Pangilinan is still bullish that the infrastructure development scheme will be adopted by the next president of the Philippines.
“The next president, who he or she might be, I think will probably continue the good programs of this government. I don’t see the new president turning a blind eye on the many good projects that should be done for the people,” he said.
Pangilinan said his company will also be scouting for opportunities outside the Philippines.
“I can’t say much, but we are looking at Malaysia and Indonesia,” he said.
Aside from the being the largest toll road operator in the Philippines, the conglomerate also has significant shareholdings in expressways in Vietnam and Thailand.
Metro Pacific is one of a handful of companies in the Philippines that are considered as mainstays in the PPP arena. It has won massive infrastructure deals, like the P1.72-billion Automated Fare Collection System; the P64.9-billion Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite Extension; and the P35.42-billion Calax.
Metro Pacific—the flagship company of Hong Kong-listed conglomerate First Pacific Ltd. Co.— has interests in the toll, energy, water, rail and health-care industries.
1 comment
We have to stop EXPRESSWAY..moratorium muna sa EXPRESSWAY……Mass Transport RAILWAY SYSTEM ang mas kailangan ng PILIPINAS..
Like Japan, kailangan ng PILIPINAS na magkaroon ng REGIONAL TRAIN SYSTEM or PROVINCIAL TRANSPORT TRAIN SYSTEM…. ito ang solution sa traffic at pagdiscourage sa middle class na bumili ng private car in the provinces.