AGI unit bags original proponent status for Skytrain

THE infrastructure arm of tycoon Andrew L. Tan’s Alliance Global Group, Inc. (AGI) bagged the original proponent status (OPS) for its proposed P3-billion monorail project connecting Fort Bonifacio to the Guadalupe station of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3.
In a statement issued Monday, AGI said Infracorp Development, Inc. has secured the Department of Transportation (DoTr)’s approval for the project. It will now be submitted to the National Economic and Development Authority Board’s Investment Coordination Committee for review.
As an unsolicited proposal, the project will then be subjected to Swiss challenge, which requires an invitation for other companies to make competing offers, while giving the original proponent the right to match them.
Infacorp submitted the unsolicited proposal to DoTr last October 2017. Under the agreement, the company will build the two-kilometer Skytrain at no cost to the government. The ownership title will be transferred to the government, while Infracorp will be given the sole right to operate the project.
The Skytrain will make use of automated cable-propelled monorail technology, effectively reducing the travel time from the MRT Guadalupe station to Fort Bonifacio, where Infracorp’s sister company Megaworld Corp. is developing the Uptown Bonifacio township, to five minutes. It will have a capacity of 60,000 to 100,000 passengers daily.
Infracorp noted that its proposal also includes provisions to interconnect the Skytrain with other transport hubs that it will pass through.
“We envision to connect Makati to Taguig and vice versa. These two largest business districts in the country need an efficient and fast transport system that is at par with what the other business districts in cosmopolitan cities like Tokyo and Sydney have,” Infracorp President Kevin Andrew L. Tan was quoted as saying in a statement.
With the approval of the project, the company said it is ready to start building the Skytrain which it hopes to finish within two years.
“We can start the project before the year ends and this will take us two years to complete it. By early 2021, we can open the Skytrain to the public,” Mr. Tan said.
The Skytrain is Infracorp’s first project since its incorporation last year. The company is also part of the consortium that proposed to rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport for around P105-106 billion.
The consortium includes Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings, Corp., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings, Inc., and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.
Infracorp said it is also looking at other infrastructure projects it could participate in, mostly to provide transport solutions in Metro Manila’s key business districts as well as growth areas around the country.
The company is part of AGI, which also has investments in property development through Megaworld, gaming through Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc., liquor through Emperador, Inc., and quick service restaurants through Golden Arches Development Corp.
Shares in AGI went down eight centavos or 0.61% to close at P13.02 each at the stock exchange on Monday. — Arra B. Francia