The infrastructure arm of San Miguel Corp. is spending P554 billion to build new expressways and expand existing toll roads, its top executive said Wednesday.
SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang made the announcement as San Miguel Holdings Corp. and state-run Philippine National Construction Corp. signed an agreement Wednesday to jointly undertake the expansion of toll roads under their existing joint venture.
The expanded road network will include extension of the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 project and the Metro Manila Expressway, or C6/Skyway Stage 4.
Under the agreement, SMHC and PNCC will build San Pedro-C6 Laguna Lake Road, extending the South Luzon Expressway from San Pedro, Laguna and passing along the shores of Laguna Lake and ending at C6 in Taguig.
Other projects are Tanauan-Tagaytay Expressway or Sky 8; TR5 which will extend SLEx from the end of TR4 in Pagbilao, Quezon to Matnog, Sorsogon; Sky 7, which will connect Taguig to Commonwealth Ave. in Quezon City; Buendia Interchange and Ramp Extension to Macapagal Boulevard; and Sky 9 or the Pasig River Alignment which will included ramps to Buendia, Pioneer and Bonifacio Global City.
SMHC and PNCC are joint venture partners in Citra Central Expressway Corp. and Citra Intercity Tollways Inc., the concession companies of Skyway Stages 3 and 4, respectively.
Through its legislative franchise, PNCC has the authority to construct, maintain and operate SLEx and Skyway Stages 1, 2, 3 and all extensions, linkages or stretches from any part of the existing toll roads.
“San Miguel and our long-time partner, PNCC, are committed to do everything we can to deliver the infrastructure projects that fall within our concession agreement,” Ang said.
“A dynamic, job-creating economy needs good infrastructure and a good transport system. We need to fast-track infrastructure spending to significantly improve investment into the Philippines. Good roads, good airports, good ports”•all of this was needed yesterday, ” he said.
PNCC president and chief executive Mario Espinosa said the company was looking forward to exploring with SMHC the possible stretches, linkages and extensions that could be built from the toll roads of existing joint venture companies.
“This augurs well for the recent extension of PNCC’s corporate life by another 50 years, which was directed by President Rodrigo Duterte,” Espinosa said.
Ang said the memorandum of agreement’s signing was a reiteration of the firms’ existing agreements, and that both parties were looking to speed up the process of prioritizing and constructing identified projects.
“Within the next year or so, we hope that work can begin on the extension of SLEx, Skyway Stage 3 and C6. We have within our agreement all the extensions that will help us create an entire seamless network of roads and expressways connecting Metro Manila to neighboring provinces. We will operate, between us, the most extensive network of Philippine tollways,” Ang said.
