Cost of toll connector road jumps

The estimated  project cost of the proposed “connector road” to link the major toll road systems north and south of Metro Manila has gone up by close to a quarter due to “unforeseen expenses.”

But Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), the highway operator that proposed to build the 13-kilometer elevated expressway through Metro Manila, said it remains committed to taking on the ambitious project that will be the centerpiece of its operations in the country.

MPTC president and CEO Ramoncito Fernandez said during the company’s stockholders’ meeting that the cost of the “connector road” was now estimated at P21 billion, about 24 percent higher than the original project cost of P17 billion.

“We found the higher cost following a detailed study of the project,” Fernandez said on Wednesday.

The increase in the project’s cost will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher toll charges.

But Fernandez said the estimated price was still a “conservative estimate,” and that the actual cost to build the road may still be lower.

Earlier this year, MPTC gained “original proponent” status for the proposed connector road.

This means it will be the preferred bidder once the contract is eventually put on the auction block.

MPTC’s original proposal for the connector road, which was submitted to the government late last year, will be subjected to a “Swiss” challenge.

If any other company is able to submit a better proposal for the project, MPTC needs only to match that offer to win the contract.

The “connector road” will stretch from the end of the Metro Manila Skyway to Manila’s port district in Tondo, passing over the alignment of the Philippine National Railways train line.

This will connect to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) segments 9 and 10, or the so-called “Harbor Link” road, to be built at the Manila port area.

Fernandez described the new elevated road as the “missing link” that will connect all of the country’s expressways.

MPTC is the toll road unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), led by executive Manuel V. Pangilinan.

Meanwhile, Fernandez said the Department of Justice (DoJ) has relaxed its previous opinion that would have mandated that MPTC shoulder all of the right-of-way acquisition costs for the “connector road.”

Right-of-way acquisition refers to the government’s expropriation of private property to make way for infrastructure projects.

The DoJ earlier said expropriation costs should be shouldered by private investors in projects that are a result of unsolicited proposals. In the past, the government has always shouldered the expropriation of land since the facilities to be built are eventually turned over to the government.—Paolo G. Montecillo