Metro Pacific Tollways unit changes the guard, again
New MPTC president and CEO Jose Ma. Lim —MPIC
Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) again appointed a new president just three months after it had undergone a major change in its management.
Jose Ma. Lim, a board director since 2008, became president and CEO effective on March 1.
He replaced Arrey Perez, who had only started serving the position at the end of November last year. Perez previously served the Clark International Airport Corp. as president and CEO before joining MPTC.
Prior to Perez, former public works and highways secretary Rogelio Singson was the top honcho of the tollway operator.
Lim, for his part, also previously served as president and CEO of parent company Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) from 2006 to 2022.
READ: MPTC raising up to P50B to trim debts
He is a director at other MPIC subsidiaries and affiliate companies, including Beacon Electric Asset Holdings Inc., Manila Electric Co., Light Rail Manila Corp., MetroPac Water Investments Inc. and Medical Doctors Inc.
Lim, a founding member and former treasurer of Shareholders Association of the Philippines, also worked as vice president of Equitable Banking Corp. and director for investment banking of the First National Bank of Boston.
“[Lim] possesses extensive experience in infrastructure and utilities, as well as in financing and risk management and regulator matters,” MPIC said in a statement.
“He will be able to lead MPTC to address the challenges of the business while maintaining excellence in the service that we provide our stakeholders,” the conglomerate added.
Lim will now be in charge of realizing the company’s big-ticket expansion plans.
The Manuel Pangilinan-led group is working on Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) C5 Link Expressway and the remaining portion of Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax).
The 7.7-kilometer (km) Cavitex C5 Link links motorists from Makati and Taguig to Parañaque, Las Piñas and Cavite.
Calax is a 44.57-km expressway that starts at Centennial Road, Kawit, Cavite, and ends at the Greenfield property in Binan, Laguna.
The operator of North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) also lined up the P1.5-billion NLEx C5 Link Segment 8.2 – Section 1A and NLEx Phase 3 Widening projects.
The C5 Link project is a two-km toll road linking Mindanao Avenue to Quirino Highway in Novaliches.
The road widening project runs from NLEx San Fernando to Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway Spur in Pampanga. Included in this project is the installation of roadway lighting infrastructure and the construction of Mexico interchange.
Overseas, the company is set to build an P80-billion elevated expressway linking east and south Jakarta by second half of this year, expanding its toll road portfolio in Indonesia.
The 21.6-km toll road will be constructed on top of the Jakarta Outer Ring Road-1 (JORR-1).
JORR-1 is being operated by PT Jasamarga Transjawa Tol (JTT), whose 35-percent stake was acquired by MPTC and partner Singaporean investor GIC last year. —Tyrone Jasper C. Piad INQ
