MPIC eyes Cebu train

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/business/2017/03/03/mpic-eyes-cebu-train-529035
• Saturday, March 4, 2017

By Jeandie O. Galolo

AFTER Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. is also keen on expanding its transportation business in Cebu with the proposed Cebu Light Rail Transit.

“We’re closely monitoring (the project) because we have transport infrastructure as one of our strengths. Cebu needs mass transportation and we’d like to participate also here,” said Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. (MPTDC) president Rodrigo Franco, in an interview at the sidelines of the press conference for CCLEX on Thursday.

Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino said the mass transit, spanning 70 kilometers, is estimated to cost $30 million per kilometer for the elevated railway type, based on the estimates of Singaporean experts who are conducting the feasibility study.

Dino, in August last year, said the government is looking for private investors to fund the project. He said the project can be implemented through a public-private partnership (PPP).

Franco described Cebu as a key investment destination of the company, having embarked on the P27-billion CCLEX, its first infrastructure project outside Luzon.

While the bridge is targeted for completion by 2020, the MPTDC official said there are plans to connect the road network to the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA).

At present, CCLEX connects only the Dapitan-Pilipog area in Cordova and the South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City.

“We’re not yet currently connected to the airport. That’s something we want to study,” Franco said.

Cebu-Bohol bridge

The Cebu-Bohol Friendship Bridge, he said, is also one business opportunity in the Visayas that the Pangilinan-led company wants to look into.

“It requires thorough technical study. The technical challenges are going to be higher. Once we study it and find that it is viable, we would like to participate in the project,” he added.

MPIC chairman Manny V. Pangilinan, during the CCLEX groundbreaking ceremony in Cordova on Thursday, expressed interest in the Cebu-Bohol bridge. He also shared his vision of connecting Western, Central, and Eastern Visayas to build a “one big economic region”.

MPIC, through the Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), has a concession agreement with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for the P65-billion LRT 1 Cavite Extension, Operation and Maintenance Project.

LRMC is a joint venture company of Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp. (MPLRC), Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. (AC Infra), and the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd. (MIHPL).