MVP keen on 3rd bridge, eyeing 2 Cebu hospitals

Bridge project faces Swiss challenge

Corporate tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) is keen on undertaking the proposed third bridge between mainland Cebu and Mactan Island.

He is also hoping to acquire two private hospitals in Metro Cebu, after a plan to co-manage the Cebu City Medical Center didn’t
materialize.

Pangilinan, chairman of listed infrastructure holding company Metro Pacific Investment Corp., declined to give details on the hospitals except to say that he was “in talks” with the owners.

He has been vocal about wanting to put up a hospital in Cebu for more than five years now.

“I wouldn’t say negotiations. We’re still talking,” Pangilinan told Visayas and Mindanao journalists after the stockholders meeting of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Inc. (PLDT) on Tuesday.

Pangilinan is also chairman of PLDT. Both Metro Pacific and PLDT are units of First Pacific Co., Ltd., an investment management company in Hong Kong of which Pangilinan is managing director and chief executive officer.

On the proposed Cebu-Cordova Bridge project, Pangilinan said this has been sent to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) for approval.

Upon approval, it will be subjected to a Swiss challenge. Original proponent Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp., a unit of MPIC’s toll roads arm Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., will have the right to match the winning bid.

Based on Metro Pacific’s unsolicited proposal, the toll bridge is estimated to cost at least P17 billion. It will span 8.3 kilometers from the South Road Properties (SRP) in southern Cebu City to Cordova town on Mactan, via Kawit Island.

Pangilinan said the project has been approved by the local governments of Cordova, Lapu-Lapu City and Cebu City.

“We’d like to do it. It’s something that Cebu needs,” Pangilinan said

He was hopeful that the project would be awarded to Metro Pacific and construction would start before President Benigno Aquino III steps down in July next year.

In a disclosure last January, Metro Pacific said the proposed bridge is envisioned to decongest traffic in the two existing bridges between Cebu and Mactan.

Both, the Mactan-Mandaue (Osmeña) Bridge and the Marcelo Fernan Bridge, connect Lapu-Lapu City in Mactan to Mandaue City in northern Cebu.

“Our proposed bridge will be in the south,” Pangilinan said.

The Cebu-Cordova Bridge is also one of five options that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) recommends in the ongoing Mega Cebu road map.

In its disclosure, Metro Pacific said it has proposed to form a joint venture vehicle with the Cebu City and Cordova governments for the design, construction, implementation, operation, and maintenance of the toll bridge for a concession period of 35 years.

The project will involve construction of the main bridge structure, viaduct, causeway, and roadway. It will be funded through 70-percent debt and 30-percent equity.

“Assuming that all awards and approvals are secured by the first half of 2015, the project is estimated to be completed by 2020,” the disclosure added.

Metro Pacific’s toll roads unit also built and operates the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), and Manila-Cavite Expressway (CAVITEX).

It was recently awarded the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAx) project. Other projects include three toll roads in Vietnam and one in Thailand.

In Cebu, Metro Pacific is part of the consortium behind the Carmen bulk water supply project through Maynilad Water Services Inc. Metro Pacific also has a stake in the Cebu Energy Development Corp. coal plant in Toledo City through Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen).