AGI still keen on Skytrain monorail project

MANILA, Philippines — Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI), the holding company of tycoon Andrew Tan, remains keen on pushing through with its Skytrain monorail project that will link Fort Bonifacio to the MRT Guadalupe Station even after almost seven years since the unsolicited proposal was submitted to the government.

AGI investor relations director Caroline Kabigting said the project “is still being held in abeyance with government.”

“It’s something that we filed prior to the pandemic and then it has not been acted upon even as at this point,” Kabigting said.

“But it’s something that we continue to pursue, we hope to pursue,” she said.

AGI’s infrastructure arm Infracorp Development Inc. submitted back in 2017 the unsolicited proposal to build the Skytrain monorail project and in 2018, it secured the original proponent status from the Department of Transportation, giving it the upper hand once a Swiss challenge process is undertaken.

In an interview in early March 2020, AGI chief executive officer Kevin Tan said the company was already looking to break ground for the project in the second half of that year with the expected approval from the National Economic and Development Authority -Investment Coordination Committee.

On the same month, however, a state of public health emergency due to COVID-19 was declared, resulting in lockdowns and mobility restrictions.

Costing P3.6 billion, the project was previously expected to be completed in two years upon start of construction.

Based on Infracorp’s plan, the two-kilometer Skytrain monorail project will use automated cable-propelled monorail technology, reducing travel time from uptown Bonifacio to MRT Guadalupe to only five minutes, at no cost to the government.

The project will also make provisions to interconnect with other transport hubs operating within the area where the monorail passes through and is seen to benefit around 100,000 commuters daily.