MPIC submits bid for Malaysia project

MANILA, Philippines — Infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) has made an offer for a tollway project in Malaysia.

“I know we’ve submitted a bid, an offer for one of their tollways,” MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters.

He said the group expects to get the result on the offer made for the tollway project in greater Kuala Lumpur “in the next month or two.”

In 2016, MPIC was in talks for a 50-kilometer tollway project in Kuala Lumpur, but the parties decided not to pursue the deal.

While the deal did not push through, MPIC said it remained interested in tollway opportunities as part of its Pan-Asean strategy.

At present, MPIC is involved in the tollways business in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

In particular in Indonesia, MPIC, through tollway arm Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., has a 48.27 percent indirect stake in PT Nusantara Infrastructure Tbk which is focused on five main business pillars such as road operations, seaport management, water utility management, renewable energy power plant, and telecommunication tower management.

As for Thailand, MPIC holds 29.45 percent in Don Muang Tollway Public Co. Ltd., a major toll road operator in Bangkok.

In Vietnam, MPIC has a 45 percent effective interest in CII Bridges and Roads Investment Joint Stock Co. which has road and bridge projects in and around Ho Chi Minh City.

Locally, MPIC operates the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway.

Currently, MPIC is building other tollways projects like the Cavite-Laguna Expressway, NLEX - South Luzon Expressway Connector Road, NLEX-Harbor Link Segment 10, C-5 South Link, and Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway.

The infrastructure conglomerate is not only involved in tollways, but in other businesses as well, such as water, power, hospitals, railways, and logistics.