First Pac eyes $750-M Vietnam road project

MANILA, Philippines - Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. and Philippine arm Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) are looking at participating in the first public private partnership (PPP) project in Vietnam involving a $750-million toll road.

Rodrigo Franco, president and chief executive officer of MPIC’s Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), said First Pacific in tandem with MPIC is looking at the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet motorway.

“It is really a First Pacific initiative. MPIC is looking for projects overseas but in tandem with First Pacific,” Franco said.

The 100-kilometer four-lane Dau Giay-Phan Thiet motorway connecting the key southern cities of Ho Chi Minh City and Phan Thiet is a critical link in the national north-south transport route. 

This is Vietnam’s first public-private partnership project together with the Vietnamese government and the World Bank as well as private partner Bitexco Group.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport is looking for potential domestic and foreign investors for the project.

The Bitexco Group would hold 60-percent equity in the project while the rest would be contributed by the government and other private investors. The shareholders would be given a 30-year concession.

“The Vietnamese partner wants to get a partner. They need a partner who can bring in technology, expertise, and know how,” Franco said.

MPIC’s toll road business is coursed through MNTC, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., Tollways Management Corp. (TMC). The company’s toll road business booked a 29 percent increase in core net income to P1.4 billion as a result of strong traffic growth and lower tax rates, interest and operating costs on the North Luzon expressway (NLEX) as well as the first-ever contribution from the Manila-Cavite toll expressway (Cavitex).

Data showed that average daily entries rose six percent on the NLEX and nine percent in Cavitex in the first nine months of the year.

Construction continues of the first stage of the NLEX Harbour Link extension following a ground-breaking ceremony earlier this year. The eight-kilometer road to link NLEX to the North Manila Port would see its first stage open as soon as the second quarter of next year. 

Work is proceeding with the Government to begin the resettlement needed to begin construction on the NLEX Citilink project to extend the NLEX by eight kilometers and connect Mindanao Ave. to Katipunan Avenue and to C5.