Metro Pacific Investments Corp. expects to close toll road deals in Indonesia and Malaysia in the next 12 months, expanding its footprint in Southeast Asia, a top executive said.
“We are in Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines now. I am quite optimistic we will have an investment in both countries [Indonesia and Malaysia. At least one within the Asean region [this year] and the other one next year,” MPIC chairman Manuel Pangilinan said.
“We want to build eventually a Pan-Asean tollways group,” he said.
MPIC has a 29.45-percent stake in Don Muang Tollway Public Company Limited, a major toll road operator in Bangkok, Thailand.
The concession for DMT runs until 2034 for the operation of a 21.9-kilometer six-lane elevated toll road from central Bangkok to Don Muang International Airport and further to the National Monument, north of Bangkok in Thailand.
MPIC through Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. also owns a 44.9-percent interest in CII Bridges and Roads, which has various road and bridge projects in and around Ho Chi Minh City.
MPIC operates the North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway. Darwin G. Amojelar
MPIC’s subsidiary MPCala Holdings Inc. is currently constructing the P35.4-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway project, a four-lane, 47-kilometer closed-system toll expressway connecting Cavitex and South Luzon Expressway.
The expressway will start from Cavitex in Kawit, Cavite and end at the SLEx-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna.
MPTC is also building an 8.3-kilometer toll road known as the Cebu-Cordova Bridge project, linking the island of Mactan to mainland Cebu through the municipality of Cordova.
MPIC is also building the P11.7-billion C5 Link Expressway, a 7.7-kilometer road that will link C5 Road in Taguig to R1 (Coastal) Expressway. The project is expected to be completed by end-2019.
MPTC budgeted P130.5 billion in the next five years to build highways and toll roads around the Philippines.