MPIC tollroad arm eyes projects in VisMin

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), the largest toll road operator in the Philippines , is looking at other road projects outside Metro Manila as part of efforts to double the country’s toll road network over the next five to eight years.

MPTC president Ramoncito Fernandez said in an interview during the groundbreaking of the Segment 10 of the North Luzon Expressway Harbor Link project that the company is closely looking at road projects in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“Good target is Mindanao , another target is the Visayas,” Fernandez said.

According to him, the company is still looking at putting up a third bridge worth between P10 billion and P12 billion to connect Cebu City and Mactan Island .

“We are still pursuing this Cebu Third Bridge option, connecting Cebu and Mactan,” he added.

MPTC has submitted a proposal to construct the third bridge to the City Government of Cebu and is set to conduct a feasibility study for the project.

According to him, the MPIC Group has earmarked between P36 billion and P40 billion over the next three to five years to finance the NLEX Harbor Link segments 8.2, 9, 10, 10.1, and 10.2

These projects include Segment 8.2 covering a 7.5-kilometer “urban expressway” linking NLEX to Circumferential Road 5 (C5) followed by Segment 9 which has a cost of P1.6 billion is a 2.4-kilometer road linking NLEX to MacArthur Highway and Segment 10.1 valued at P10.5 billion is the 5.65-km elevated four-lane toll road from MacArthur Highway to the North Harbor via the C3.

The proposed Segment 10.2 that would connect NLEX and the South Luzon expressway worth P18 billion has yet to be approved by the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB).

MPTC operates 64 percent of the existing 300 kilometers of toll roads in the country including the 94-km Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway (SCTEX), the 85-km NLEX, and the 14-km Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway (Cavitex).

Fernandez pointed out that major players intend to double the country’s existing toll road network of 300 kilometers that is way less compared to Malaysia’s 1,500 kilometers, Indonesia’s 700 kilometers, among others.

He said the company expects to take a 50 percent to 60 percent share of the proposed doubling in the country’s toll road network.