Metro Pacific bags P17-billion NLEX-SLEX linkup project

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. (MPTDC) has bagged the P17-billion road project that will connect the North and South Luzon Expressways.

MPTDC, a wholly-owned unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s infrastructure arm Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), said the Department of Public Works and Highways has accepted the group’s unsolicited proposal to build a 13.2-kilometer elevated road from the C-3 interchange to the Buendia segment of the Metro Manila Skyway.

The project is expected to be operational after Segments 9 and 10, covering a distance of eight kilometers that will connect the NLEX to MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela and Port Area in Manila, are completed.

Called the connector road, the project is expected to reduce travel time between NLEX and SLEX to just 15 to 20 minutes from the present travel time of more than one hour.

“We are pleased that DPWH has accepted the unsolicited proposal of MPTDC, in line with their mandate to develop the infrastructure of the rapidly growing area of North Luzon. The connector round Project will provide the efficient transport of people and goods through congested urban areas and reduce travel time between NLEX and SLEX to 20 minutes” said MPTC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan.

MPTC president and chief executive officer Ramon S. Fernandez, for his part, said the connector road project is a “much-awaited urban expressway project that will solve the traffic congestion and change the landscape of Metro Manila.

“It is planned to be a legacy infrastructure in the heart of the city that will utilize the hollow core technology - a new construction system for elevated structures which are proven to be the safe and efficient methods of construction.”

The project is expected to decongest the heavy traffic in EDSA that will help travellers save on fuel costs and travel time.

The submission of the proposal was in response to President Arroyo’s vision for a rapidly developing Luzon Urban Beltway.

MPTC is exploring a loan from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation that will cover up to 70 percent of the project cost.

MPTC’s sister firm, Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), currently operates NLEX. The group also holds a five percent stake in Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp., which operates the Skyway – a 35-kilometer elevated toll road that ends at the SLEX. 

MPTC is eyeing the government’s 20 percent stake in SLEX.

Aside from this, MPTC is also in talks with the  government for the long-term maintenance and operations contract of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx). The group holds an interim agreement to operate and maintain the SCTEX, a key transportation node linking two former US military bases-turned-economic zones – Clark and Subic.

MPTC chief finance officer Christopher C. Lizo said they plan to fund the project through the issuance of new shares and/or private placement of shares. He said the amount to be raised from these planned transactions would depend on the success of discussions for the group’s other acquisitions.