The Public Estates Authority Tollway Corp. (PEATC) said Friday the current revenue sharing agreement with its partner Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. (CIC) would lead to a potential revenue loss of P1 billion annually for the government.
Ariel Inton, spokesperson of PEATC, told reporters in a news briefing that the 60-40 revenue sharing scheme in favor of the government should be implemented after the completion of Phase 1 of the Manila Cavite Expressway Project.
CIC corners 90 percent of the toll collection, while PEAC receives the remaining 10 percent.
“The government is losing a conservatively estimated amount of P1 billion because of non-compliance with reverting the evening sharing in favor of the government,” Inton said.
He said the 10 percent merely represents the share of the government on the toll collection, and not 10 percent of the ownership.
Inton said that as the operations and maintenance agreement (OMA) with CIC expired on August 2021, the full O&M and toll collection should be transferred to PEAC.
PEATC officer-in-charge Dioscoro Esteban Jr. rejected the offer of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) to buy out its interest in Cavitex for P2.5 billion.
He said the offer is “disadvantageous” to the government as the toll road is earning more than P2 billion a year.
Esteban proposed that the privatization of Cavitex be done through a public bidding.
Esteban said PEA made several demands to CIC in February for the full revision of the O&M, but the company did not heed the demand.
PEATC filed a petition for mandamus before the Court of Appeals to direct CIC to turn over the operations and maintenance and toll collection.
Under the joint venture with PEATC, Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. is responsible for the design, financing and construction of MCTEP.
