Citra offers to advance cost of ‘common tollway’

Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp. has offered to advance the cost of building a common 5-kilometer alignment that will be shared by the parallel elevated roadways of San Miguel Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

However, the company that operates the Skyway said Sunday it was opposed to the 50-50 revenue sharing scheme being proposed by MPIC because vehicle volume would not be divided evenly once the elevated roadway splits into the separate SMC and MPIC tollways.

“It does not make good business sense both for Citra and MPIC if the sharing is 50-50, because in reality the traffic will not be 50-50,” Citra president Shadik Wahono said.

Instead, he suggests that the revenue sharing scheme between the rival conglomerates be subjected to regular reviews and adjustments once vehicular traffic data become available, or when the two toll roads are already in operation.

Citra is a joint venture of an Indonesian construction giant—San Miguel Corp. and Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC)—while MPIC is the local holding unit of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., led by businessman Manuel Pangilinan.

Reacting to recent reports about the Buendia-to-Sta. Mesa PUP segment of Citra’s Skyway Stage 3, to which MPIC connector road project will be linked, Shadik pointed out that representatives of Citra and MPIC met several times to resolve the issue so that the implementation of the projects—both will connect the North Luzon Expressway to the South Luzon Expressway—could get off the ground soon.

According to Shadik, Citra will allow MPIC’s connector road to connect to the Skyway Stage 3 at the PUP area in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

The right of Citra and PNCC over the Buendia-to-Sta. Mesa PUP segment falls under the original alignment of the Skyway project approved by the government in 1995. Since the Skyway Stage 3 is an extension of the existing Skyway Stages 1 and 2, Citra will start construction at the Buendia-end of Skyway Stage 1.

Pending the resolution of the dispute, Shadik said Citra would continue to dialogue with MPIC in order to reach an agreement before the December 15 deadline imposed by the National Economic and Development Authority on MPIC.