"The slight delay in the start of expansion work on the North Luzon Expressway was due to the negotiations for financing of the project," De Jesus said.
MNTC is 60 percent owned by the Lopez family’s First Philippine Infrastructure Development, 20 percent by the Philippine National Construction Corp., and 20 percent by the French Egis Projects S.A.
MNTC had won the right to rehabilitate, expand and operate an additional 84 kilometers of the NLEX way back in 1998.
According to De Jesus, MNTC is seeking a $377.5-million loan from a consortium of foreign and multilateral financial institutions led by the Asian Development Bank. The other members of the consortium are the International Finance Corp., the Export and Finance Insurance Corp. of Australia, Compagnie Francaise D’Asurance pour le Commerce Extenieur (COFACE of France) and DG Bank of Germany.
Leighton of Australia is the contractor for the 84 kilometer expansion project of the North Expressway. It also constructed the Rockwell Center in Makati. The project will be in three phases.
The first phase covers the Subic-Tipo road which is already under construction. The second phase is the 84 kilometer Balintawak -Sta. Inez stretch which broke ground in September last year.
The project will include the construction and rehabilitation of 14 interchanges, 24 bridges and 31 overpasses from the Balintawak (Manila) exit to the Sta. Inez (Clark Special Economic Zone, and the operation of an 8.8 kilometer expressway in the Subic Special Economic Zone which had earlier been completed in 1966 in time for the APEC leaders’ meeting in Subic.
The rehabilita tion and expansion of the North Luzon Expressway is a flagship project originally approved during the term of former President Fidel V. Ramos and carried over by the administration of deposed President Joseph Estrada.