BCDA seeks P1-B loan for toll road project

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — The Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) has applied for a P1-billion loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) for its P5-billion counterpart fund in the P26.154-billion Subic-Clark-Tarlac toll road project.

The project is expected to start anytime before July. Once completed, the 93.7-kilometer, four-lane toll road will be the longest in the country, the BCDA said.

The toll road will link up the Subic Bay Freeport and the Clark and Hacienda Luisita economic zones.

Rex Chan, BCDA vice president for operations, told The STAR the project will not cause massive land conversion of agricultural areas within the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, contrary to the fears of the estate’s protesting workers.

"The expressway will be a limited access tollway and will be fenced throughout. It will only provide a terminal for passengers from Tarlac and other parts of Northern Luzon in San Miguel, Tarlac," he said.

Chan said the BCDA has applied for a P1-billion loan from the DBP after obtaining another P1-billion loan from Banco de Oro.

It has raised P1 billion from its own funds and another P2.3 billion in tax subsidy as provided under the recently approved General Appropriations Act.

It has to raise a total of P5 million as its counterpart fund for the toll road project.

Chan, however, said the project proposal has remained with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) which will provide P21 billion or 85 percent of the total cost.

The project proposal was sent back to the JBIC for concurrence after it was amended to reflect an increase in cost due to delays since 2001.

"I don’t know what else they are looking into, but all the required documents are there," he said.

But he said he expects the JBIC to officially approve the project proposal within a week.

Earlier, the JBIC had threatened to withdraw funding amid fears that some P2.3 million in value-added tax and import duties would be levied on the delayed project.

"The P2.3 billion would cover the taxes which would also flow back to the government so there would be no cash outflow from the government," Chan said.

He said the BCDA has used P1 billion of its P5-billion counterpart fund to settle right-of-way problems in areas that the Subic-Clark-Tarlac toll road will traverse.

The BCDA has divided the project into two packages: Subic to Clark, and Clark to Tarlac.