Metro Pac to hike Central Luzon investments

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – A month after being named the official concessionaire of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) disclosed that it is pouring in more investments in Central Luzon. 

In a press statement, MPIC chief financial officer David Nicol said the company’s power distribution arm Manila Electric Corp. (Meralco) along with partners Aboitiz Power Corp. and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp. are investing $1.28 billion to put up a 600-megawatt clean coal-fired power facility within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. 

The power project, which is to be undertaken through a vehicle company called Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc., can contribute in meeting eight percent of the power needs of the entire Luzon grid. Nicol added that the facility shall consist of two 300-megawatt power units with the first one expected to be commercially operational by the first quarter of 2015. 

Meanwhile, MPIC’s toll road division Metro Pacific Tollways will spend P8 billion for the construction of the 8-kilometer North Luzon Expressway (NLEX)-Harbor link which shall extend NLEX main to the Manila North Road in Valenzuela City and eventually to the C-3 Road which leads to Port Area in Manila. 

The tollways firm has also allotted P17 billion for the NLEX-South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) connector project which is to link the two expressways via a 13.5 kilometer elevated road over the tracks of the Philippine National Railways. 

Nicol also said MPIC is keen on investing in the overall development of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Pampanga, including the construction of a terminal for budget airlines and a high-speed train railway. 

Lastly, the conglomerate is on the lookout for new acquisitions in Region 3 that is to be part of its chain of hospitals which is currently composed of the Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Riverside Medical Center and Davao Doctors’ Hospital.