MANILA, Philippines — The Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) and the government have agreed on an out-of-court settlement on toll rate adjustments on the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway (Cavitex).
“We still don’t know what the final form of the settlement would be... We can say we... supported the position of the government that we find a mutually acceptable way of settling the issue,” Rodrigo Franco, MPTC president and chief executive officer, said.
Franco said the MPTC also agreed to the collection of a staggered toll hike, noting that a one-time increase would not be acceptable to the public and motorists.
“We considered that if we agreed on an adjustment, it would be on a staggered basis... That’s a proposal we submitted to the government,” Franco said.
He said the MPTC is committed to terminate the arbitration case.
The Metro Pacific Investments Corp., through NLEX Corp., filed a notice of arbitration in April 2016 to seek compensation for toll rate adjustments amounting to P3 billion.
The adjustments were due on January 2013 and January 2015.
The MPIC through Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. also issued a notice of arbitration and statement of claim amounting to P877 million.
Toll rate adjustments for Cavitex were due on Jan.1, 2012, Jan.1, 2014 and Jan. 1, 2015.
Franco had earlier said claims for overdue toll adjustments on NLEX and Cavitex ballooned to P7.5 billion as of June last year.