MANILA, Philippines - Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is looking at undertaking another multi-billion peso infrastructure project – an airport express train service that will run from the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark, Pampanga to Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. (formerly Buendia Avenue) in Makati City.
In an interview, MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said while it may take some time before the project takes off, he emphasized that an airport express service is needed if Clark airport wants to attract more foreign carriers.
“The Philippines is the only country which still does not have an airport express service,” he stressed.
MPIC is currently in talks with San Miguel Corp. (SMC) on the possibility of joining a Filipino-Korean consortium which earlier made an unsolicited proposal to construct a $177-million (more than P8 billion) new terminal at the DMIA.
Both Pangilinan and SMC president and CEO Ramon Ang have separately confirmed to The STAR that they have already agreed in principle to team up in the undertaking.
Pangilinan told The STAR that the airport express project can be complementary to the P17-billion connector road project that will be undertaken by MPIC’s wholly-owned subsidiary Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC). The 13.2-kilometer elevated connector road project will run along the Philippine National Railway (PNR) tracks within the Manila central business district, from the end of North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) at C3 to the beginning of Skyway 1 at Buendia and is projected to start in 2012.
“We do not know yet whether it is the connector road or the airport express railroad that will be constructed above the PNR tracks. We are thinking of three levels. On the ground will be the PNR rail system, and above it are the connector road or the airport express railroad. But the two projects will both use the PNR right-of-way,” he said.
Ang also earlier told The STAR that they have commissioned a group that includes international companies with experience in bullet trains to study the possibility of building a bullet train railway that will run from the north to the south end of Luzon. As planned, the bullet train railway will run the Laoag-Manila-Bicol route.
When asked whether MPIC is willing to undertake the airport express train project in tandem with SMC, Pangilinan said they are thinking of doing it alone or in tandem with other groups.
He pointed out that while the train project may compete in some way with the connector road project, he emphasized that what is needed is to bring in more people into Clark.
As envisioned, he said the airport express may have three stops – one in Balintawak, another in España in Manila and one in Buendia.