MNTC turns over P3.5B to BCDA

The Manila North Tollways Corp. has turned over P3.5 billion to state-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority on Thursday, as the two parties held a ceremonial signing of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) business agreement in Malacañang.

The signing was witnessed by President Aquino and French President Francois Hollande because French firm EGIS Projects SA holds a 10-percent stake in MNTC, and is part of the consortium that will provide the toll equipment for the upgrade of the SCTEx systems.

In a statement, the BCDA explained that the P3.5 billion represented the upfront payment required under the SCTEx business agreement. This gives MNTC the responsibility over the management services, toll collection, traffic safety and security management, toll road and facilities maintenance, including greening and landscaping, public relations and marketing, and all necessary support services for the 94-kilometer expressway.

Under the agreement, which will be in effect for 28 years until Oct. 30, 2043, MNTC will have to pay concession fees equivalent to 50 percent of SCTEx gross toll revenues.

“We are happy that, finally, the contract is signed. And we can move on with the full operation and further upgrading and development of SCTEx, particularly the North Luzon Expressway-SCTEx toll integration, as well as providing the facilities and service areas needed to serve the public,” BCDA president and CEO Arnel Paciano D. Casanova said in a statement.

Casanova added that he was pleased with the turnout of the recent SCTEx price challenge conducted by the BCDA as it upheld President Aquino’s policy of good governance.

The price challenge for the management of SCTEx was conducted in January this year as the government wanted to secure the highest offers for this concession from the private sector. But the BCDA failed to secure bids from other companies to challenge the offer made by MNTC.

Ramoncito Fernandez, president of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), parent firm of MNTC, noted that the “acquisition of SCTEx is only the beginning of MPTC’s plan to link the countryside and Metro Manila and boost socioeconomic development in the regions.”