The tollway unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. expects revenues to increase 15 percent to P11.5 billion this year from P10 billion in 2015.
Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. president and chief executive Rodrigo Franco said Manila North Tollways Corp., the operator of North Luzon Expressway and Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway, had projected revenues of P10 billion this year from P8.1 billion in 2015.
Cavitex Infrastructure Corp., the operator of the Manila-Cavite Expressway, meanwhile, expects P1.5 billon in revenues this year from P1.2 billion last year.
Franco said the revenue projection this year already factored in the toll hike petition of MNTC and Cavitex.
“We are hoping that they will grant the 15 percent toll hike for NLEx,” he said.
MNTC filed a petition with TRB in September 2014 for the bi-annual toll adjustment that was supposed to start on Jan. 1, 2015, as stipulated under its concession.
The new petition is on top of the one the company filed in 2012 for a toll increase scheduled in January 2013. This would bring the cumulative toll adjustment to 15 percent, of which 12 percent was long overdue.
Tolls at NLEx from Mindanao Avenue to Sta. Ines currently amount to P218 for Class 1 vehicles (cars, jeepneys, pickup trucks and vans), P544 for Class 2 vehicles (two-axle trucks, buses and vans) and P652 for Class 3 vehicles (trucks and trailers with three or more axles).
MNTC has asked for a P3.5-billion compensation claim as of January for failure to increase the toll in the last three years, while Cavitex requested P800 million.
Cavitex also proposed a toll hike for Class 1 vehicles to P27 from P22; Class 2 vehicles to P54 from P44; and Class 3 vehicles to P81 from P66.
The two companies said the periodic toll rate adjustment was a contractual right the toll operators were entitled to under the operation agreement.
Franco had said MPTC was ready to file an arbitration case against the government if the Toll Regulatory Board failed to decide its petition for a toll increase by the end of April.
MPTC was supposed to file the arbitration case against the government, but the TRB requested for another 30 days as the Commission on Audit was reviewing the toll increase rates.
TRB consultant for traffic management and safety Albert Suansing, however, said the current administration was unlikely to complete the review process and “probably the next administration” would act on the toll hike petition.