MPIC unit to submit proposal for P22.5 billion Cavitex extension project

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Investments Corp. unit Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. (CIC) plans to pursue the P22.5 billion extension of the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway (CAVITEX) from Kawit to Rosario in Cavite as it seeks to finalize and submit its proposal to the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) this month.

“We have been delayed for this. We should have submitted that in July to TRB, but what we try to do is to submit it toward the end of this month,” CIC president Luigi Bautista said.

Bautista said the company “needed to check the traffic numbers” first, causing the delay in its submission.

“The traffic numbers are input to the financial model. So we have to make sure that the project is financially viable before we submit it,” he said.

“So within the month we will complete that and then we will also submit it before the end of the month,’ Bautista said.

The proposed Segment 5 of CAVITEX would cover a 9.5-kilometer toll road to connect Kawit to Noveleta and up to Rosario in Cavite. It is estimated to cost P22.5 billion.

Conglomerate MPIC, through CIC, manages the 14-km CAVITEX.

CIC is set to complete by the end of this month or early September the P800-million Phase 1 of the construction enhancement works of CAVITEX, which involves widening the expressway by adding one lane on both directions, as well as construction of a flyover on the southbound lane on the intersection of Pacific Ave.

The company will also start next month the construction for the P300-million second phase of enhancement works which will include the widening of three bridges at the Wawa, Las Piñas area.

Aside from CAVITEX, MPIC also operates other tollways such as the North Luzon Expressway and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.