Connector road still ‘doable’ by ’16

Metro Pacific Tollways president Ramoncito Fernandez: Doable PHOTO FROM MPIC.COM.PH

MANILA, Philippines—Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the toll-road arm of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., submitted its formal proposal detailing the implementation structure for a P23-billion “connector-road” aimed at linking the company’s North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) to the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx).

Metro Pacific Tollways president Ramoncito Fernandez said in an interview Thursday that their investment proposal was submitted to the government on Wednesday.

He said the proposal would use an existing joint venture with state-owned Philippine National Construction Corp., which holds the franchise for both NLEx and SLEx.

“We are working closely with TRB [Toll Regulatory Board] and PNCC on the joint-venture investment proposal,” he said, but declined to elaborate.

Fernandez noted that it was still possible to complete the toll road before President Aquino steps down in 2016.

“The marching orders of the President to all agencies, including PNCC, TRB and the office of the executive secretary is that we should execute the [investment agreement] before the end of the year,” Fernandez said.

“It’s doable but we all have to work double time,” he added.

“We have been ready for more than two years, our detailed engineering is almost in the final stages,” Fernandez said. “Once the Stoa [Supplemental Toll Operations Agreement] is awarded, we can mobilize in three months.”

The connector road is the centerpiece of Metro Pacific’s P41-billion investment program over the next five years.

Metro Pacific Tollways is considered the country’s biggest toll-road operator with about 64 percent of the country’s toll roads under its management, information on its website showed.

But most of its crown jewels are still located in the north.

The company operates the 84.96-km North Luzon Expressway and is in talks with the government, which has yet to complete the turnover of the 93.7-km Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway to the toll road operator.

In the south, it operates the 14-km Manila Cavite Expressway.

The connector road project will bridge the gap between NLEx and SLEx, which is controlled by San Miguel and the Citra Group of Indonesia.