In 10 days—or right after the annual stockholders’ meeting of Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands—the country’s most valuable bank will have a new president, investment banker Cezar Consing, who certainly has very big shoes to fill.
Speedsters driving on the 42-kilometer Southern Tagalog arterial road (STAR) expressway from Sto. Tomas to Batangas City, better not get too carried away.
Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) is set to start construction on the section of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) that will create a direct link to MacArthur Highway.
On the reported “compromise” that’s shaping up between two proponents of separate connector roads linking the North and South Luzon expressways, the government seems to be getting impatient waiting for rivals San Miguel/Citra and Metro Pacific groups to resolve their differences on the P7-billion, five-kilometer common alignment on their own. After all, the government wants the project to get going in preparation for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit to be hosted by the Philippines in 2015.
Businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan is set to make a significant investment in the holding firm that owns the Coastal Road project connecting Metro Manila with the province of Cavite—a move that may eventually give the telecommunications tycoon control of the toll highway.
Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp. has offered to advance the cost of building a common 5-kilometer alignment that will be shared by the parallel elevated roadways of San Miguel Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.
After hours of meeting, President Benigno Aquino III and his Cabinet approved, on Thursday night, 11 infrastructure projects worth more than P100 billion, including a key project connecting the North Luzon Expressway with the Southern Luzon Expressway and the Cavite-Laguna Expressway.
Conglomerates Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and San Miguel Corp. are on a collision course again over differing proposals on how to fund and build the shared portion of two north-to-south connector roads.
South Luzon Tollway Corp. (SLTC) has formally objected to the decision of the Department of Public Works and Highways to allow last-minute changes in the design of the Daang Hari road project without securing the approval of all involved parties.
CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp. and Jakarta-based Citra Group is building up a war chest worth $1 billion for infrastructure projects in the Philippines and Indonesia, with the aim of becoming Southeast Asia’s biggest toll road player.
Our country is marked by dichotomies. The most enduring dichotomy is this: the few rich who are gaining greater control of the economy and the many poor who are growing more impotent through the years.
Metro Manila is not a pedestrian-friendly city. Jeepneys, buses, trucks, cars, tricycles and recently motorcycles swirl uncontrollably through the streets with no regard for lanes or signals. Pedestrians risk their lives as drivers often disregard pedestrian lanes—all these amid the blowing of horns and smoke belching of poorly maintained engines.
