SMC, DMCI get P11.5-B term loan for TPLEx

MANILA, Philippines—A consortium led by San Miguel and Consunji groups has obtained a term credit facility worth P11.5 billion to build the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx), an infrastructure project deemed as crucial to improve the road network to Northern Luzon.

The loan for this 88.58-kilometer toll road project was sourced from a syndicate of banks led by the country’s biggest lender Banco de Oro Unibank. Other participating banks are the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines.

“TPLEx is a momentous project because it has many firsts to its credit. It is the first all-Filipino owned public-private partnership project; the first PPP (public-private partnership) project funded by all-Filipino banks; and, the first toll road project under the PPP that completed its financial close,” BDO president Nestor Tan said in a press statement on Thursday.

The proponent of TPLEx is Private Infra Dev Corp., an all-Filipino consortium led by San Miguel Corp. subsidiary Rapid Thoroughfares, Inc., DMCI Group and D.M. Wenceslao & Associates Inc.

The TPLEx project, with an estimated cost of P19 billion, is being undertaken via a build-operate-transfer contract between the government—through the Department of Public Works and Highways and Toll Regulatory Board—and PIDC. It is a two-lane travel way, with provisions for widening, traversing from La Paz, Tarlac to Rosario, La Union. Once completed, it will reduce significantly the current travel time from Manila to Baguio.

The construction of the two-lane travel way, the first phase, is expected to be completed in five years.