MNTC To Complete New Segments in Q1

By NLEX Corporation, as seen on https://nlex.com.ph/2017/11/09/nlex-harbor-link-segment-10-to-be-completed-by-end-of-q1-2018/, November 9th, 2017

The NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10, an elevated expressway linking MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela City and C3 Road in Caloocan City, is projected to be operational by the end of the first quarter of 2018.

“We expect to finish the project by early next year, anticipating complete delivery of the remaining right-of-way by end of this month,” this was announced by Raul Ignacio, NLEX Corporation Senior Vice President for Tollways Development and Engineering during the launch of DPWH’s Infra Track App and inspection of the Segment 10 project.

Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) President Jose Ma. Lim and NLEX Corporation officials hosted the “Build Build Build” team led by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, and Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) President Vince Dizon during a site inspection of the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10.

Featured as one of the big-ticket projects in the “Build Build Build” infrastructure plan, the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 is envisioned to alleviate Metro Manila’s traffic congestion and drive commerce between the Harbor area and Central and North Luzon. It is seen to advance transport logistics and facilitate efficient delivery of goods.

At present, the NLEX Corporation has accelerated construction on the recently turned over ROW areas in Valenzuela and Caloocan.

Through the efforts of the DPWH right-of-way task force, the Local Governments of Caloocan and Valenzuela, and Philippine National Railways (PNR) management, the Poblacion Public Market in Caloocan City and the Tullahan River-San Francisco area in Valenzuela City were cleared.

“We are fast tracking the turnover of the remaining right-of-way needed to complete Segment 10,” said Secretary Villar, noting that “with the help of our Infra Track App, we will be able to closely monitor the developments of projects like this that will decongest Metro Manila and boost investments in the country.”

The P10.5-billion NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 traverses Karuhatan in Valenzuela City, Governor Pascual Avenue in Malabon City, and C3 road in Caloocan City.

Meanwhile, ROW acquisition and initial construction activities are ongoing for the 2.6-kilometer Radial Road 10 section of the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 from C3 Road in Caloocan City to R10 in Navotas City.

Cebu-Cordova toll bridge construction underway

CEBU, Philippines — Construction of the Cebu-Cordova toll bridge is underway in July as right-of-way (ROW) acquisition is almost complete, an official said.

Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway Corp (CCLEC) president and general manager Allan Alfon said ROW progress is now at 91 percent, an information also disclosed by its parent firm Metro Pacific Investments Corp (MPIC) on Thursday.

“We committed to start actual construction come July 4,” Alfon told The FREEMAN.

He said the company is still on the design stage for the project.

“We’re still on the design stage with some physical activity on site for bore holes testing purposes of samples,” Alfon also noted.

Funding for the construction of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEx) had already been secured through a combination of equity and debt.

MPIC, CCLEC’s parent firm, noted CCLEx’s project cost is P26.3 billion.

MPIC had said its tollways arm Metro Pacific Tollways Corp (MPTC) will spend approximately P122.8 billion in the next five years on building highways and tollroads around the Philippines, including the 8.3-kilometer Cebu-Cordova toll bridge.

The Cebu Link Joint Venture (CLJV) is currently finishing the detailed engineering design for the project which is expected to be completed by May or June.

It has been issued the Notice of Award for the “Design and Build” contract of the 8.5-kilometer CCLEx, the much-anticipated bridge project that will connect Cebu City to the municipality of Cordova on Mactan Island.

CLJV is a joint venture of Spain-based Acciona Construccion S.A. and Philippine-based infrastructure companies First Balfour Inc., and publicly listed D.M. Consunji Inc. First Balfour is the construction subsidiary of listed First Philippine Holdings Corp.

CCLEx is the first of MPTC’s envisioned toll road expansion projects in Visayas and Mindanao.

CCLEC will build, operate and maintain the toll bridge through a joint venture agreement with the local governments of Cebu City and Cordova Municipality.

CCLEx will have two lanes in each direction and will feature the main navigation span bridge, along with viaduct approach bridges, a causeway, roadway and toll facilities.

The span of the bridge allows for shipping traffic and the link is expected to serve at least 40,000 vehicles daily.

The 8.25-kilometer toll bridge will connect Cebu City to Mactan Island via Cordova, envisioned to decongest the traffic in the two existing bridges (Marcelo Fernan Bridge and Mandaue Bridge) between Mactan and Cebu, due to the worsening traffic situation in the area. It is located around 7.5 kilometers south of Mandaue Bridge and will take off from the Cebu South Coastal Road crossing the Mactan channel to Mactan Island.

Read more at https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/cebu-business/2018/05/05/1812187/cebu-cordova-toll-bridge-construction-underway#Se0IXVL86fPsuFiq.99

MPT South expects govt to give original proponent status on CTBEx proposal

METRO Pacific Tollways South Corp. (MPT South) hopes to receive this month the original proponent status for the P22.43-billion Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway (CTBEx), an unsolicited proposal it submitted to the government in July last year.

Luigi L. Bautista, the company’s president, said his group submitted all documents required by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in relation to its unsolicited proposal.

“We hope to get the original proponent status by next month,” he said in an interview late Monday, April 30. “As far as we are concerned, we have completed the required information so it’s really up to the DPWH to review and issue the original proponent status to us.”

Being granted an original proponent status will give the proponent a competitive advantage to its would-be competitors during the competitive challenge for the project.

Under the implementing rules and regulations of the build-operate-transfer law, the government must place unsolicited proposals to a Swiss challenge, which, in a nutshell, is a legal process of inviting other groups to bid for an unsolicited deal.

The original proponent then has the right to submit a counteroffer.

Earlier, DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catalina E. Cabral said the agency aims to officially subject the CTBEx proposal to a Swiss challenge as early as the first half of 2018.

But given the movement of the proposal, it may seem that the timeline for the Swiss challenge will have to be pushed back a little further.

After receiving the original proponent status, the company and the implementing agency will then enter into an exclusive negotiations process to further polish the offer to be more beneficial to the state and the public.

The offer will then be subject to the approval of several bodies under the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), including the Neda Board, which is chaired by President Duterte.

Once it gets the green light from the Neda Board, the project will then undergo the Swiss challenge.

CTBEx, a proposed 49-kilometer (km)expressway, will connect Cavite and Batangas, with a spur road to Tagaytay City and ultimately terminating in Nasugbu, with another spur road to Tuy, Batangas.

Bautista said the project will greatly improve access to Tagaytay City and Nasugbu, thereby ensuring faster travel and support for the government’s tourism thrust. Once completed, travel time will be reduced to less than an hour from the current 2.5 hours, he added.

The whole expressway will take about three years to complete, but the company can open the first section in one and a half years.

The government aims to award the contract by mid-2018.

CTBEx will start at the Silang East Interchange of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway. The alignment shall traverse the towns of Silang, Amadeo, Mendez and Alfonso in Cavite; Tagaytay City; and Nasugbu in Batangas.

Expected to handle an initial 60,000 vehicles per day, the proposed expressway will have eight major interchanges, two spur roads and a number of overpasses.

It is divided into three phases: Section 1, a 17.4-km road from Silang, Cavite to Tagaytay; Section 2, a 9.86-km road from Tagaytay to Alfonso; and Section 3, a 22.2-km road from Alfonso to Nasugbu.

Should the project be awarded by mid-2018, the proponent can start the construction of the infrastructure by the third quarter of 2019. The whole expressway is expected to be opened by mid-2022, the last year of President Duterte’s term.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., an infrastructure-holdings conglomerate in the Philippines, is no stranger to unsolicited proposals for toll projects.

After waiting six long years, it bagged last year the multibillion-peso connector road, an 8-km road that will link the North and South Luzon Expressway. It also has existing proposals for the development of thoroughfares in Metro Manila.

Metro Pacific is the largest tollways operator in the Philippines. It also has interests in expressways in Thailand and Vietnam.

 

Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/mpt-south-expects-govt-to-give-original-proponent-status-on-ctbex-proposal/

Tollway firm eyes KL project

The tollways unit of Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC) has joined the bidding for a toll road project in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as part of its strategy to expand regional presence.

Manuel Pangilinan, MPIC chairman, told reporters results of the bidding are expected in the next two months.

MPIC through its tollways unit Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) has presence in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The entry in Malaysia is important for the company’s strategic plan to establish a Pan-Asian Tollways group.

MPIC has 29.45 percent stake in Don Muang Tollways Public Company Ltd (DMT) a major toll road operator in Bangkok, Thailand and has partnership with CII Bridges and Roads (CII B&R) for Vietnam.

Last year, DMT reported a 2- percent increase in daily traffic to 97,919 while CII B&R delivered an 8-percent increase to 52,788 in 2017.

The company expanded in Indonesia through the acquisition of 48.3 percent of PT Nusantara, a publicly-listed limited liability company in Indonesia.

PT Nusantara’s infrastructure portfolio generates approximately 80 percent of its core net income from toll roads, which attract over 300,000 vehicle entries a day.

Locally, MPTC will spend approximately P122.8 billion in the next five years on building highways and toll roads around the Philippines.

MPTC projects in the pipeline include NLEX Harbor Link, NLEX Harbor link Radial Road 10; Cavitex C5 South Link Expressway valued at P12.6-billion; Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway,  P26.3-billion ; Cavite Laguna Expressway,   P16.9 billion and NLEX-SLEX connector road for P23.3-billion.

MPTC also operates North Luzon Expressway, Manila Cavite Expressway and Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway.

 

Source: http://malaya.com.ph/business-news/business/tollway-firm-eyes-kl-project

MPIC submits bid for Malaysia project

By Louella Desiderio (The Philippine Star), as seen on https://www.philstar.com/business/2018/04/23/1808417/mpic-submits-bid-malaysia-project, April 23, 2018 – 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) has made an offer for a tollway project in Malaysia.

“I know we’ve submitted a bid, an offer for one of their tollways,” MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters.

He said the group expects to get the result on the offer made for the tollway project in greater Kuala Lumpur “in the next month or two.”

In 2016, MPIC was in talks for a 50-kilometer tollway project in Kuala Lumpur, but the parties decided not to pursue the deal.

At present, MPIC is involved in the tollways business in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

In particular in Indonesia, MPIC, through tollway arm Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., has a 48.27 percent indirect stake in PT Nusantara Infrastructure Tbk which is focused on five main business pillars such as road operations, seaport management, water utility management, renewable energy power plant, and telecommunication tower management.

As for Thailand, MPIC holds 29.45 percent in Don Muang Tollway Public Co. Ltd., a major toll road operator in Bangkok.

In Vietnam, MPIC has a 45 percent effective interest in CII Bridges and Roads Investment Joint Stock Co. which has road and bridge projects in and around Ho Chi Minh City.

Locally, MPIC operates the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway.

Currently, MPIC is building other tollways projects like the Cavite-Laguna Expressway, NLEX – South Luzon Expressway Connector Road, NLEX-Harbor Link Segment 10, C-5 South Link, and Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway.

The infrastructure conglomerate is not only involved in tollways, but in other businesses as well, such as water, power, hospitals, railways, and logistics.

Metro Pacific Tollways introduces latest tech to speed traffic

By Manila Bulletin, as seen on https://business.mb.com.ph/2018/02/16/metro-pacific-tollways-introduces-latest-tech-to-speed-traffic/, February 16, 2018, 10:00 PM

Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), the tollways arm of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), announced the introduction of the latest Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)  technology to ease travel  through major tollroads managed by  MPTC in Northern and Southern Luzon.

EasyDrive (powered by EasyTrip) is the country’s first RFID sticker tag used for toll payment instead of cash. It uses a paper-thin battery-less sticker that contains a chip and antenna; attached to a vehicle’s windshield or headlamp, it can be used at EasyDrive dedicated or mix toll lanes on Cavitex.

The times are even longer during public holidays such as All Saints’ Day, Holy Week,  and Christmas holidays, MPTC said.MPTC said  163,162 private vehicles are now installed with MPTC’s RFID tag stickers, allowing them to quickly pass through toll gates in the north and south.  According to data, it takes 9 to 12 seconds to pass through SLEX/NLEX and Cavitex toll plazas for motorists paying cash, but only 2 to 4 seconds to enter and exit of cars with EasyDrive or EasyTrip stickers.

“It is our corporate objective to provide motorists with an efficient and quicker access of expressways to allow them to reach their destination conveniently and faster,” Rodrigo Franco, MPTC president, said.

Similar RFID sticker tags are now being used on tollways in the United States, Canada, Taiwan,  and in some parts in Europe, he said.

Franco also announced that MPTC has signed a memorandum of agreement with the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to provide RFID sicker tags to its emergency vehicles to allow them to respond to emergencies.

The RFID sticker tags were installed in  100 MMDA emergency response vehicles bearing an initial load of R500. Upon depletion of the initial load,  the MMDA will take over the responsibility of loading the RFID tags for quick and easy access to toll roads.

The partnership is expected to speed up the MMDA’s emergency response vehicles’ entry and exit in the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway toll areas in the north, and Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) in the south.

“We are pleased to partner with MPIC/MPTC,” said Danny Lim, MMDA chairman. “This will allow us to quickly extend our Metro-wide services particularly in areas within the metropolis where we need to pass through NLEX and Cavitex toll plazas.”

NLEX Allocates P19B Capex To Help Improve Metro Manila Traffic

This year, the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Corporation is setting aside P19 billion in capital expenditure to help solve Metro Manila’s daily traffic bottlenecks.

However, the tollways firm clarified that the capex figure will still be subject to review and adjustment, depending on the result of its ongoing tariff adjustment discussion with the government, according to NLEX Corporation President and CEO Rodrigo Franco.

The bulk of the company’s 2018 capital expenditure will be used to construct the urban portions of the NLEX, such as the Harbor Link Segment 10, including the R10 Section in Dagat-Dagatan, Navotas City and the Public Private Partnership (PPP) project of the Department of Public Works (DPWH), the NLEX-South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) Connector Road project.

Expected to be opened this year, Harbor Link Segment 10 is a 5.7-km elevated expressway traversing the NLEX from Smart Connect Interchange and crossover Mac Arthur Highway in Valenzuela City with down ramps along C3/5th Avenue Interchange in Caloocan City.

Once the Harbor Link is completed, travel between the Ports of Manila and the NLEX will take only 10 minutes and will provide direct expressway access for commercial vehicles, especially heavy trucks.

Around 40,000 vehicles traversing the Ports of Manila and the NLEX daily will benefit from the Harbor Link.

The tollways firm will also start construction of the NLEX-SLEX Connector Road Project, an 8-kilometer all-elevated PPP project of the DPWH above the existing PNR tracks from the C3/5th Avenue Interchange in Caloocan City to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), Sta. Mesa, Manila.

Upon its completion in 2021, the elevated expressway will provide motorists another alternative to the daily heavy traffic on EDSA. It is also expected to reduce travel time between NLEX and SLEX from 2 hours to only 20 minutes.

In support of the continuing infrastructure initiatives of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), the tollways firm will also undertake capacity expansion of the 8-km Subic Freeport Expressway.

NLEX Corporation will construct 16 new lane kilometers thus boosting Subic port as a prime logistics hub.

Through its subsidiary, NLEX Ventures Corporation (NVC), the tollways firm has also started construction of a new expressway service facility and rest area along Km. 17 Southbound of the NLEX.

The new 15,500-square meter facility, called NLEX Drive & Dine, will follow a mini-mall concept that will feature a wide variety of retail, food and commercial services for NLEX customers.

To support the rapidly growing areas north of Manila, NLEX Corporation is also constructing two major traffic decongestion projects in Mabalacat City, Pampanga such as the new Sta. Ines Interchange and the new Mabiga Interchange in 2018.

The conversion of the narrow SCTEX Mabiga exit into a full diamond interchange with new entry and exit toll plazas will introduce another alternative access to the SCTEX via the MacArthur Highway.

“These investments support the government’s initiatives to ease the daily traffic woes of our commuters, drive commerce, and ensure safe and convenient travel in our expressways and maintain high-quality service” Franco concluded.

 

Source: https://business.mb.com.ph/2018/01/12/nlex-allocates-p19-billion-capex-for-2018/

MPT South sets aside P10-B capex for 2018

EXPRESSWAY operator Metro Pacific Tollways South Corp. (MPTSC) announced it has allotted P10 billion (about $200.9 million at current exchange rates) in capital outlays for two major expressway projects this year.

Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. CFO Christopher C. Lizo said the firm programmed the amount to finance the construction of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax) and the C5 South Link of the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway (Cavitex).

“For south, the capital expenditures is about P10 billion—mostly for Calax and [the] C5 South Link,” Lizo said. The construction of the four-lane 47-kilometer-long Calax will connect Cavitex in Kawit, Cavite, to the South Luzon Expressway (Slex)-Mamplasan Interchange and will cost an estimated P35.42 billion ($787 million).

“It will open end-2020 or early of 2021, but we may open certain sections ahead,” Lizo said.

The C5 South Link is a P11.7-billion project that aims to connect R-1 in Parañaque to C5 in Cavitex. It will run parallel to the runway of the main airport in Pasay and will cross the Slex and Skyway toward C5.

“It will open in phases: one in 2019 and the whole alignment by 2020,” Lizo added.

The Slex is being operated by San Miguel Corp. and Indonesia-based Citra group, while the Northern Luzon Expressway is being operated by the Manila North Tollways Corp.

Lizo said the capital requirement for the C5 South Link will be financed through a mix of debt and equity.

“We are in talks with local banks for the debt portion,” he said.

The MPTSC aims to double its revenues in the next three years.

 

Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/mpt-south-sets-aside-%E2%82%A710-b-capex-for-2018/