MALACAÑANG has signed the regulatory framework for Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) that will pave the way for the official turnover of the operation and management concession of the country’s longest toll road to the Metro Pacific group by Nov. 5 this year.
Arnel Casanova, president of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), which built and privatized the toll road, said in an interview that President Aquino signed last Friday the supplemental toll operations agreement (STOA) for SCTEx, the document that would pave the way for the turnover of the toll road concession to Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC).
While the BCDA already had a business operating agreement or the commercial agreement with MNTC, a unit of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), Casanova said the signing of the STOA provided the parameter that established the authority of the Toll Regulatory Board on the toll road with MNTC as the operator of SCTEx.
The signing of the STOA completes the privatization of SCTEx, which was finally executed following a competitive “price challenge.” After the turnover, the private concessionaire will take care of all the expenses on operation and maintenance while BCDA will take care of the debt-servicing requirements.
“SCTEx STOA will give our group the opportunity to provide North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and SCTEx motorists world-class seamless travel,” MPTC president Ramoncito Fernandez said in a text message. “This will enable us to implement much-awaited modernization of both toll collection and traffic management as well as overdue long-term pavement maintenance.”
“The SCTEx concession solidifies Metro Pacific’s leadership in the Philippine toll road industry,” Fernandez added.
Nov. 5 is the targeted date for the turnover of the SCTEx toll road concession, Casanova said.
The Metro Pacific group paid P3.5 billion in upfront cash for the right to operate and manage SCTEx for 31 years. Under the agreement with BCDA, MNTC will equally split gross revenues from the toll road.
Casanova said that in the first nine months of the year, gross revenues from SCTEx amounted to P1.1 billion, which were expected to reach P1.5 billion for the full year.