DMCI to undertake Naia roadwork for SMC

San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has hired the construction unit of DMCI Holdings Inc. to build the Naia Expressway phase II project.

SMC secured the Naia Expressway phase II contract through a public bidding two months ago.

A filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange showed that SMC unit Vertex Tollways Development Inc. has signed an agreement with D.M. Consunji Inc. for the “engineering, procurement and construction” of the Naia Expressway project.

SMC has already signed the formal concession agreement with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The Naia Expressway, part of the government’s public-private partnership (PPP) program, aims to connect the capital’s main airport terminals to the Entertainment City Manila casino complex, as well as the South Luzon Skyway and Manila Cavite Toll Expressway.

SMC is in the process of completing the detailed engineering for the toll-road, which the government estimates will cost P15.52 billion to build.

DPWH is also negotiating for the project’s right-of-way, which it expects will be completed before the end of the year.

Based on the agreed upon timeline, construction of the first phase will start by 2014. This will link Entertainment City to Naia airport terminals 1 and 2. It is expected to be completed by March 2015.

The succeeding phase, which will extend the toll road to Naia terminal 3 and then to Skyway, would be completed by September that same year.

SMC, through unit Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc., was awarded the project on May 6 after it paid P11 billion up front.

That amount—about 36 times bigger than the offer submitted by the only other bidder, Metro Pacific Investments Corp.—comes on top of the construction cost.

San Miguel will operate the airport toll road for a period of 30 years.

The Naia Expressway Phase II project is composed of a four-lane, 7.75-kilometer elevated expressway and 2.22-kilometer at-grade, or street level, feeder road.  Miguel R. Camus