Pagcor City licensees welcome SMC entry in NAIA tollway proj

MANILA, Philippines - The four licensees of Pagcor’s Entertainment City welcomed the entry of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway Project, Pagcor’s top official said.

Pagcor chairman Cristino Naguiat said all four licensees – Enrique Razon’s Solaire Resorts, Belle Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc. and Japanese-led Universal Entertainment Corp. – are happy that Ang won in the NAIA Expressway Project with an P11-billion bid.

“The four players are happy because they have savings of P6.5 billion, which they could use to do more for their projects,” Naguiat told The STAR.

SMC won over lone rival Manila North Tollways Corp., a unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan.

The project will link NAIA’s three terminals to Skyway and the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway.

Originally, the four gaming licensees, who requested for the construction of the elevated ramp, were willing to finance P6.5 billion but they would no longer have to do this because of SMC’s P11-billion bid.

SMC president and chief executive officer Ramon Ang, in a recent interview with reporters, meanwhile, defended his P11-billion bid from critics who said that the bid was way too high for the project.

Analysts said SMC’s competitive bid could change the game in other PPP projects of the government.

“If SMC participates in a project, other bidders can bid competitively,” said Joseph Roxas, president of Eagle Equities.

Pangilinan, in a recent interview, declined to comment on SMC’s bid, saying that in future projects, his group would continue to bid competitively.

“The government is the big winner here,” Naguiat noted as he expressed optimism that the NAIA Expressway Project, expected to be in place by 2015, would significantly contribute to the success of Entertainment City.

Ang is scheduled to pay the government in June and start preparation works for the project soon.

The NAIA Expressway Project is the second big-ticket infrastructure project the government bid out under its PPP Program for infrastructure launched in 210.

This followed the P2-billion four-kilometer Daang Hari-SLEX road, which the Ayala Group won in 2011.

The government was also able to bid out a P16-billion classroom-building project to Megawide.