MANILA North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) will formally present its proposal to state-run Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) this month to form a joint venture for the P22.95-billion connector road that will link the North and South Luzon Expressways (NLEX and SLEX).
MANILA, Philippines – Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), the largest toll road management firm in the Philippines, said it is on track to hitting its full-year traffic growth target despite the recent harsh weather that disrupted operations. The tollway unit of infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is also waiting for government approvals for new projects and higher toll rates, a company official said. “The good thing is, we were ahead for the first seven and a half months. We should still meet target in terms of traffic (growth),” MPTC chief financial officer Christopher Lizo said. “Traffic growth target was three percent for the entire (toll road) network,” he said. From January to July, MPTC recorded a 6.5-percent increase in traffic for its portfolio, which is composed of the 94-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), the 84-km North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and the 14-km Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex). However, Lizo said Typhoon Maring, the first major tropical storm this year, badly affected operations of MPTC. Maring and a southwest monsoon poured heavy rains in Luzon, resulting in flooding and the collapse of the Pasig-Potrero Bridge along SCTEx. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “To some extent when we do the budget, we incorporate the impact of extreme weather conditions,” Lizo said. To jack up revenues, MPTC is hoping to receive government approval for a 12-percent rate increase for NLEX. “In revenues, we are behind target but we’re still up against last year,” Lizo said. “We’re waiting for the tariff Read More …
People keep on asking me why the P-Noy administration has fallen flat on its face in the area of constructing vital infrastructure. The only major project they are claiming to have completed, the Laguindingan Airport in Cagayan de Oro was initiated during the Ate Glue watch. The portion that was the responsibility of the P-Noy watch was even botched by DOTC. They forgot the airport needs air navigation and night landing facilities. So they inaugurated the airport with only visual flight rule in place. The ILS (Instrument Landing System) and other vital facilities will come later. Another agency under DOTC forgot that the new airport needs a good public transport system. LTFRB should have been issuing franchises for buses and jeepneys but they thought of doing that too late. I was told of a Manila-bound Cebu Pacific passenger who had to pay a taxi P800 to get to the airport. His plane ticket was P300. In answer to my question, I am inclined to believe that incompetence is the basic reason why P-Noy’s boys have failed to put up infrastructure projects over the past three years. But there are those who say it is an acute case of risk aversion… as in a fear of signing any contract that may end up with the Ombudsman and will bug them way after they are out of office. They are most likely thinking they cannot be sued for corruption if they do nothing… but they risk a Sandiganbayan case if they signed Read More …