Alliance Global diversifies to infrastructure, pitches ‘Skytrain’

MANILA, Philippines — Alliance Global Group Inc. is moving to carve out a niche in the Duterte administration’s “golden age of infrastructure” by proposing a monorail project in the country’s capital that is seen to benefit around 60,000 to 100,000 passengers daily.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Wednesday, the 24-year-old holding firm of tycoon Andrew Tan said it has created INFRACORP Development Inc.—a new company that will manage infrastructure projects through participation in the government’s Private-Public Partnership projects.

The Tan-led conglomerate said INFRACORP has submitted this week an unsolicited proposal to the government to build a 2-km monorail project called “Skytrain” that will link Fort Bonifacio to the MRT Guadalupe Station.

Under the proposal, AGI said a station will be built in Guadalupe, Makati near the MRT station and another in Uptown Bonifacio, a township development of AGI’s real estate arm Megaworld, at no cost to the government.

“The project, which will utilize the automated cable-propelled monorail technology, will reduce travel time from Fort to MRT Guadalupe to only five minutes,” AGI said in its disclosure.

Once approved, the Skytrain will take three years to construct, AGI said, adding that the monorail could be interconnected with the subway system project passing through Fort Bonifacio that the government is set to build.

As the Philippines starts building more roads and modernizing ports, the private sector is still having a hard time finding its role in the current government’s ambitious infrastructure plan, with President Rodrigo Duterte favoring foreign money to fund the big infrastructure push.

But unlike his predecessor, the Duterte administration is more welcoming of unsolicited proposals, while criticizing the slow progress of PPP initiatives.

“Given the country’s strong and stable economy, we see a huge opportunity to invest in infrastructure. We are excited to participate and optimistic about the government’s aggressive push for infrastructure developments,” said Kevin Tan, executive director of AGI and also appointed president of INFRACORP.

“Funding of the project will be internally-generated as part of AGI’s existing CAPEX program. We cannot disclose the exact amount of the investment yet until the government gives us the gosignal to proceed. We will follow the rightful process of this exercise,” Tan added.

According to AGI, INFRACORP is also looking into other potential infrastructure projects, particularly on transport solutions, in several business districts around Metro Manila and in key growth areas around the country.