AGI forays into infra, plans Fort Bonifacio Skytrain

MANILA, Philippines — Tycoon Andrew Tan is joining the infrastructure bandwagon to take advantage of the government’s ambitious infrastructure program.

For his first project, Tan submitted an unsolicited proposal to build a two-kilometer elevated train that will link Fort Bonifacio in Taguig to the Guadalupe station of the Metro Rail Transit.

Alliance Global Group Inc., Tan’s 24-year old conglomerate, created Infracorp Development Inc., an infrastructure subsidiary, to handle the public-private partnership (PPP) project and other proposals as well.

The monorail, dubbed as the Skytrain, hopes to benefit around 60,000 to 100,000 passengers daily.

Tan’s son Kevin, who will head Infracorp, said the group was eager to participate in other infrastructure projects of the government.

“Given the country’s strong and stable economy, we see a huge opportunity to invest in infrastructure. We are excited to participate and optimistic about the government’s aggressive push for infrastructure developments,” said the younger Tan, executive director of AGI.

The project is expected to  reduce travel time from the Fort to MRT Guadalupe to only five minutes.

The train will utilize the automated cable-propelled monorail technology.

Under the proposal, a station will be built in Guadalupe, Makati near the MRT station and another in Uptown Bonifacio, a township development of AGI’s real estate arm Megaworld, at no cost to the government.

The Skytrain monorail project will take three years to construct and it could be interconnected with the subway system project passing through Fort Bonifacio that the government is set to build.

“Funding of the project will be internally-generated as part of AGI’s existing capex program. We cannot disclose the exact amount of the investment yet until the government gives us the go-signal to proceed. We will follow the rightful process of this exercise,” Tan said.

Aside from the proposed monorail, the company is looking to propose other potential infrastructure projects, particularly on transport solutions, in several business districts around Metro Manila and in key growth areas around the country.

The infrastructure business widens Andrew Tan’s already vast empire, which includes property, food, hotels and gaming, and liquor.

Harry Liu, president of Summit Securities Inc. said the government’s infrastructure program has been attracting investors and is boding well for the economy.

 The Duterte administration has vowed to usher in the so-called golden age of infrastructure in the country through its Build, Build, Build program wherein government would increase state spending to seven percent of gross domestic product from the existing five percent.

The government expects to fund the projects from a mix of sources including bilateral loans, official development assistance (ODA) and own funds.

It has so far lined up 75 projects under the infrastructure program including new roads and bridges, airports, a subway, railway and many others.

 This pipeline of projects does not include the unsolicited proposals submitted by the some of the country’s biggest conglomerates.