MNTC books 5% rise in NLEX traffic in Q1

MANILA, Philippines - Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), a unit of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), booked a five percent increase in traffic at the 87-kilometer North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) in the first quarter of the year.

MNTC president Rodrigo Franco said volume of passengers that passed through NLEX grew from January to March this year amid the construction of several road projects leading to the expressway.

“Traffic is okay we had a very good first quarter. Traffic was up by around five percent than last year,” he said.

Data showed that average daily vehicle entries at NLEX increased by five percent to 170,271 in the first quarter of last year from 162,329 in the same quarter in 2012.

For 2013, average daily entries at NLEX rose six percent to 173,067 from 163,362.

According to him, MNTC is looking at booking toll revenues of close to P8 billion this year from about P7 billion last year.

“We are hoping we will get close to P8 billion. I don’t think we will reach P8 billion but we are getting there,” Franco said.

He cited the delay in the approval by the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) of its proposed toll hike that was supposed to take effect in January last year.

“We are still waiting for the regulator. Hard to say but we are hoping it will happen within the year,” he said.

After completing Segment 9 which is a 2.4-kilometer traversing NLEX in Valenzuela City to MacArthur Highway, MNTC is pursuing three major road projects worth over P30 billion.

The projects of the MPIC Group include the ongoing P1.6 billion Segment 9 and the P10.5 billion Segment 10.1 under the Harbor Link and the P18 billion Segment 10.2 or the North Luzon expressway – South Luzon expressway (NLEX-SLEX) connector road.

The construction of Segment 9 covering a four-lane divided at-grade expressway stretching 2.42 kilometers from the existing Smart Connect interchange to MacArthur Highway is set to start in May and is expected to be completed June next year.

Segment 10.1 comprising of 5.64 kilometers of four-lane divided elevated expressway from MacArthur Highway to circumferential road – 3 (C-3) is set to start in March and is scheduled for completion in February of 2016.

MNTC is awaiting the approval of the TRB for the NLEX-SLEX connector road stretching eight kilometers from C-3 to Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in Sta. Mesa.

The project would also include a 2.6-kilometer spur road from C-2 to Road 10 leading to the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) at the Port Area in Manila.

MNTC is raising P10 billion in the last quarter of the year to finance the connector road after successfully listing P7 billion worth of retail bonds at the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEX).