Makati City is set to be given full ownership of the corporate entity established to develop and operate the stalled underground train system in the city as part of proceedings with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), former Makati mayor Abigail Binay-Campos said over the weekend.
Her sister, newly elected Mayor Nancy Binay, however, flagged a “midnight settlement” that the previous administration entered into seven days before the end of their term, obligating the city to pay P8.96 billion to the private partner Philippine InfraDev Holdings Inc.
According to Binay-Campos, the arbitration proceedings are expected to give Makati City full ownership of the Makati City Subway Inc. (MCSI) with a net value of $1.6 billion, free of liabilities and including land assets, after paying $160 million to its public-private partner (PPP).
“It’s a win for Makati. It will end years of legal uncertainty and positions Makati to drive the subway project forward on its own terms,” she said in a statement released Sunday. Binay-Campos said the expected resolution of the arbitration will include Makati having to pay $160 million to the private partner, approximating the actual investment made on the project as determined by auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Other terms will then be contained in the award to be issued by the SIAC Tribunal and declared before the proper regulatory bodies upon its receipt.
The anticipated acquisition of the subway company is expected to boost Makati’s already substantial assets, Binay-Campos said. According to her, based on the Commission on Audit (COA)’s 2023 Annual Financial Report on Local Governments, Makati had total assets of P243.444 billion. The amount represents an increase from P239.478 billion in 2022.