MPIC unit to borrow P30B in 2017
The toll road unit of Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. plans to borrow about P30 billion early next year to partly finance two big infrastructure projects.
These are the P27.9-billion Cebu-Cordova bridge project and the P35.4-billion Cavite Laguna Expressway (Calax), Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. president and CEO Rodrigo Franco told reporters Tuesday.
“We’re just starting [the process] so maybe we can reach financial closing by early next year,” Franco said at the sidelines of the Euromoney Philippines Investment Forum.
Franco said they were looking at tapping local banks for the fund-raising exercise.
The Cebu-Cordova bridge project is an 8.25-kilometer project that Metro Pacific hopes to finish by 2020. The bridge will provide a third link between Cebu’s main island and Mactan Island, where its international airport is located, cutting travel time by about 40 minutes.
Metro Pacific expected vehicle traffic at the Cebu-Cordova bridge to hit about 40,000 daily once it opens. The project, which starts at the Cebu South Coastal Road, will have an opening toll fee of P89 and should generate more than P1 billion in annual revenues when it opens, Franco said.
Meanwhile, Calax is a 45.5-km project. It will be a four-lane expressway that starts at the Cavite Expressway toll gate in Kawit, Cavite, and end at the South Luzon Expressway-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna.
According to the Department of Public Works and Highways, Calax aims to provide a “faster, safer, more comfortable and reliable route” between Bacoor and Kawit, Cavite areas, and the Laguna and SLEx areas. This would also boost trade and socioeconomic activities in the area, it added.
Metro Pacific Tollways already operates the 14-km Cavite Expressway in southern Metro Manila apart from 90-km North Luzon Expressway and 94-km Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) north of the capital. It is also seeking to build an elevated connector road cutting through Metro Manila that would link NLEx with San Miguel Corp.’s SLEx.
