The tollway unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. said it expects to start the construction of the P27.9-billion road and bridge connecting Cebu City to Mactan Island via Cordova by the second half of the year.
Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. said the 8.25-km Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway was expected to be completed by 2020.
MPTC president and chief executive Rodrigo Franco said the company was in talks with local banks to raise P20 billion to partially finance the Cebu Cordova Bridge project.
Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. last year secured the notices of award from both the city of Cebu and the municipality of Cordova for the financing, design, construction, implementation, operation and maintenance of the Cebu-Cordova Bridge tollroad subject to compliance with conditions.
MPTC will spend ₱130.5 billion in the next five years in building highways and tollroads around the Philippines.
The company said it was imperative that overdue tariff increases, now ranging between 20 percent and 48 percent on different parts of the network, be implemented to fund the projects
“We are in constructive dialogue with the new administration on how to achieve this,” MPTC said.
MPTC recorded a core net income of P2.1 billion in the first six months, up 27 percent from P1.6 billon year-on-year.
Average daily vehicle entries for all three of its domestic tollways system (NLEX, CAVITEX and SCTEX) totaled 440,904 up 9 percent compared with the same period in 2016.
Traffic on the NLEX grew 7 percent while that of SCTEX rose 24 percent reflecting integration of the two roads in 2016.
Traffic on the CAVITEX increased 8 percent driven by growth in residential communities in Cavite and tourism in Batangas.