THE Metro Pacific group is hoping to secure approval for its unsolicited proposal to build the Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway (CTBEx) by the end of 2017.
Metro Pacific Tollways South Corp. (MPTSC) President Luigi Bautista said the company submitted the official proposal to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) last July 7.
“Officially we submitted already the unsolicited proposal to DPWH last July 7… Toward the end of the year, we [hope we will be able] to get original proponent status for CTBEx,” Mr. Bautista told reporters on Monday.
The P22.5-billion proposed expressway will connect Silang in Cavite, to Tagaytay, and to Nasugbu in Batangas.
“We have been in active discussions with DPWH. We’re completing a few additional requirements so that they can declare it as complete submission and then after that they will evaluate it,” Mr. Bautista added.
After the additional requirements are submitted, the DPWH have 180 days to evaluate the proposal and decide if it will give the company “original proponent status.”
The CTBEx is seen to expand the business of MPTSC, with the Laguna segment of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX) having broken ground in June, and the proposed expressway, Segment-5, that will connect Sangley Airport in Cavite to its Manila-Cavite Expressway (CAVITEx).
MPTSC is a unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), which is one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo
