SMC taps DM Consunji for P10.5-B eng’g proj

MANILA, Philippines - D.M. Consunji Inc., the construction unit of the Consunji family’s listed investment arm DMCI Holdings Inc., bagged a P10.5 billion engineering and  construction contract for the NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) expressway phase II project.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, DMCI said D.M. Consunji has signed an agreement with Vertex Tollways Development Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of San Miguel Holdings Corp., for the engineering, procurement and construction contract for a project that will link the capital’s main airport terminals to Entertainment City along Roxas Boulevard.

When asked for comment, DMCI Holdings chief financial officer Herbert Consunji said the contract is worth around P10.5 billion.

The contract involves about 2.2 kilometers of at grade works within the Entertainment City area and about five kilometer four-lane elevated and viaduct connecting to the existing Skyway.

DMCI said the phase II works comprise the design and construction of the viaduct extension from the existing phase 1 to Roxas Boulevard, Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard and NAIA terminals 1 and 2 over the existing roads of Sales Road, Andrews Avenue, domestic airport road, NAIA road and Imelda Avenue and includes on and off ramps, connection ramps and provision of toll plazas.

San Miguel had been given by the government until the end of the year to complete the detailed engineering for the toll road, which is estimated to cost around P15.52 billion.

Construction is expected to take approximately two years with full operations scheduled to start in 2016. The government will finance the road right of way of acquisition at P1.021 billion.

The NAIA expressway project, one of the big-ticket infrastructure projects under the Aquino’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program, aims to reduce to eight minutes the average 24-minute travel time for passengers from Skyway to NAIA Terminal I.