TOLL road operator Metro Pacific Tollway Corp (MPTC) is stepping up its road projects, including interconnection of expressways.
Following the completion in June of Segment 8.1, the 2.7-kilometer toll road from Mindanao Avenue to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), MPTC is now focusing on Segments 9 and 10 or the Harbour Link, which will connect NLEx to Manila’s port area by 2014.
The construction of Segment 9, the 2.4-kilometer extension of NLEx to MacArthur Highway, will commence in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The engineering design for Segment 10 – the five-kilometer MacArthur Highway to Port Area link — is now almost complete. Construction will start in the second quarter of 2012.
Another project, the Connector Road, will bridge the Northern and Southern toll road systems and cut travel time between the two to about 20 minutes. It is a 13-kilometer, four-lane elevated expressway connecting Harbour Link to South Luzon Expressway/Skyway at Senator Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati City. It is now undergoing detailed engineering design.
The Harbour Link and Connector projects will cost MPTC an estimated P25 billion. The government will have to fork out P7.7 billion to secure rights-of-way access.
Meanwhile, MPTC expects to take over the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) concession within the first quarter next year. Once integrated with NLEx, motorists traveling from NLEx to SCTEx will enjoy seamless travel to Northern Luzon.
For the first nine months of the year, MPTC revenues grew 7% to P4.34 billion due to higher average daily vehicle entries and longer average journeys attributed to ongoing campaigns to promote the North as a tourist travel destination.
Core net income reached P1.09 billion versus the P895-million posted in January to September 2009, up 22%.
