THE tollways arm of conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is seriously looking into completing its P18-billion connector road in two years’ time, so much so that it is already planning to raise roughly P15 billion to bankroll the capital requirements of the much-needed infrastructure project that would connect the North and South Luzon expressways.
Despite hitting legal hurdles and the uncertainty of bagging the project, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) President Ramoncito S. Fernandez said his company is already preparing to finance the project, signaling the confidence of the group of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan in winning the contract.
The infrastructure conglomerate, he said, plans to unload as much as 20 percent of its shareholding in his company. The plan, he added, involves the sale of the said shares to a strategic partner.
“We haven’t gotten a board approval for that, but there are initial talks about getting preferably a strategic partner. We are open to both foreign and local companies,” Fernandez said in a chance interview late Tuesday.
The local flagship of conglomerate First Pacific Ltd. Co. holds a 99.88-percent shareholding in MPTC, which controls the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), the builder and the operator of the decade-old thoroughfare to the north.
Rodrigo E. Franco, president and chief executive officer of MNTC, noted that the plan to raise funding for the muiltibillion-peso connector-road project will depend on whether the company wins the contract or not.
“We are still unsure. It will depend on when the government approves the connector road,” he said in a separate interview. “If we get it then, we will start raising funds.”
The P18-billion deal has been in limbo for five years now, as government officials have different ideas on how to execute the unsolicited proposal of the infrastructure conglomerate.
Transportation officials said the project could be implemented under a joint-venture agreement with state-run Philippine National Construction Corp., requiring certain amendments to the existing supplemental toll-operations agreement of the North Luzon Expressway. Contrary to that, justice executives believe that the project must undergo a competitive challenge because of its nature as an unsolicited proposal.
The project, hence, underwent several amendments and went through different approvals and objections. Now, the deal is set to be discussed in this month’s National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board meeting.
The connector road, or Segment 10.2, is an 8-kilometer mainline road that will run from C-3 Road in Caloocan to Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Santa Mesa, Manila. It will also have 2.6-km port area spur road that will run from C-2 Road to R10 in Tondo, Manila.
The expressway is expected to facilitate the seamless exchange of goods and services between the two ends of the country’s capital. This would aid truck operators and freight services firms to pick up shipped goods from the ports in Manila and deliver them to local markets.
source: Business Mirror
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