Ayala keen on bidding for more big-ticket projects

AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Ayala Corp. said it was still keen on pursuing big-ticket infrastructure projects like railways, tollroads and airports under the Aquino administration’s public-private partnership (PPP) program, a company executive said in a media briefing late Tuesday.

Noel Kintanar, executive vice president of Ayala subsidiary AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., said Ayala has already won or was set to bag projects with a total construction cost of about P100 billion under the PPP and it remained open to bidding for more deals.

“If the LRT2 [Light Rail Transit Line 2] comes onboard, clearly we will be interested. For MRT3 [Metro Rail Transit Line 3], if there is an opportunity, we will pursue it with Metro Pacific,” Kintanar said. Metro Pacific Investments Corp. led by businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan is a strategic partner of Ayala for Metro Manila railways.

The transportation department earlier said it would bid out the operations and maintenance contracts for both LRT2 and MRT3 although no final date has been set. Kintanar also said the company would also consider the P123-billion Laguna lakeshore expressway dike project apart from airports that the government might bid out. These include provincial air gateways and possibly the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, which the Department of Transportation and Communications is studying.

“Naia, obviously, is a very interesting project. It’s our gateway airport and it’s a huge opportunity,” said Kintanar.

Ayala, either by itself or with partners, has already won two PPP deals, the P2-billion Daang-Hari SLEx link tollroad deal in southern Metro Manila and a P1.7-billion electronic ticketing system for railways in the capital district, information on the PPP Center’s website showed.

It was also expecting awards for a P65-billion LRT1 extension project to Cavite and the P35.4-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway tollroad (Calax), also south of Metro Manila.

He said Ayala was ready to finance its equity contributions in these projects, which would amount to an estimated $200 million to $300 million.

Delays, at the moment, were expected for the awarding of Cavite-Laguna Expressway after disqualified bidder San Miguel Corp. filed an appeal to President Aquino. Kintanar, for his part, noted that the government rules were set and that he hoped these would be followed.

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