The toll road unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is borrowing at least P40 billion to partly finance new road and bridge projects in Luzon and Visayas.
Rodrigo Franco, CEO of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., told reporters last week that the money would be used for the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax), its Cebu-Cordova bridge project and the C5 extension of the Cavite Expressway.
The proposed figure could get higher in the coming months. Toward the end of 2017, the company plans to tap loans for its anticipated connector road project, which will link its North Luzon Expressway with the South Luzon Expressway of San Miguel Corp., he said.
Franco said the group had already launched a more than P20-billion debt deal for the 45-kilometer Calax. The project starts at the Cavite Expressway toll gate in Kawit, Cavite, and will end at the South Luzon Expressway-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna. Its target completion is 2020.
The company earlier listed the Calax’s project cost at P55.9 billion.
“It’s out in the market now,” Franco said, adding that the loan deal was arranged by HSBC.
By June or July, he said the company planned to tap “slightly less” than P20 billion for the 8.25-km Cebu Cordova bridge project. Franco said Maybank would arrange the transaction.
The project, estimated to cost P28 billion, will start construction around July this year. Its target completion date is December 2020.
Franco said the group was considering to borrow around P7 billion for the C5 South Link. This is a 7.7-km project that will link R-1 in Parañaque to C5 and then Cavitex. The project will be completed in 2018.
The company is also pursing the NLEx-SLEx connector road, which suffered years of delays mainly on government disagreement over its mode of implementation. The 8-km project has an estimated cost of P23.3 billion and was targeted for completion by 2021.
Metro Pacific’s connector road proposal, which carries a 37-year concession period, will start at the C3 Road in Caloocan City and end in PUP Sta. Mesa. It will have an opening toll fee of P87.