MANILA, Philippines - Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), a unit of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), recorded a 24-percent growth in earnings in the first quarter of the year amid the continued rise in the volume of vehicles passing through the North Luzon expressway (NLEX).
MNTC booked a net income of P670 million from January to March this year or about P130 million higher compared to the P540 million recorded in the same period last year.
Average daily traffic grew seven percent to 182,326 vehicle from 170,271 vehicle entries resulting from economic developments within the NLEX service area as well as the start of the summer travel and festival season.
Vehicles classified as Class 3, consisting of mainly of commercial trucks, registered the highest growth rate of almost 12 percent in terms of average daily entries to the NLEX while Class 1 vehicles, consisting mainly of cars posted a seven percent growth.
This translated to a 5.3-percent increase in net toll revenues to P1.8 billion in the first quarter from P1.7 billion in the same quarter last year. Average daily toll revenues went up P1 million to P20 million from P19 million.
The rise in core income was attributed to higher traffic volume and lower operating costs for the quarter.
Core income of MNTC as of end-March jumped 23 percent P670 million compared to the P540 million reported during the same period last year.
MNTC is set to open the 2.4-kilometer four-lane Segment 9 of the Harbor Link Project in the second half making the Smart Connect Interchange on the NLEX mainline fully operational with the western portion leading to MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela City.
In addition, the company has started the construction of 5.6-km four-lane elevated Segment 10 connecting Segment 9 and the NLEX mainline to the C3 Road in Caloocan City.