MPIC prepared to buy out shareholders of MRT-3

By Victor V. Saulon, Sub-Editor

METRO PACIFIC Investments Corp. (MPIC) is prepared to buy out “certain shareholders” in Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3), including the government, in a proposed concession arrangement that will initially involve rehabilitating Metro Manila’s heavily used mass transportation system.

“The tentative cost of rehabilitating the system is about P12.5 billion, but there’ll be further cash out to take out certain of the shareholders of MRT, including the government,” MPIC Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of a subsidiary’s launch of its digital tollways project.

Mr. Pangilinan said several meetings were held between his team — organized to look into the MRT-3 project — and the Department of Transportation (DoTr) “for the past week or so.”

“So it seems there is some progress on that side. There have been some meetings with the DoTr that’s quite an important with respect to our unsolicited proposal,” he said.

He said his team has not come up yet with the “hard estimates” to spend on the MRT-3 proposal in what he called “a rather complicated situation.” MRT-3 is the 16.9-kilometer rail system stretching along Metro Manila’s main highway EDSA from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City.

“So we don’t know what the quantum of that cash out is. And moving forward there will be maintenance capex, O&M (operations and maintenance) expenses and, of course, concession fees payable to the government. These things will have to be discussed with the government in due course,” he said.

Asked whether his team has come up with a formal offer to buy out the government, he said: “Wala pa (None yet). But we said in principle we’re prepared to.”

“The approach that we have proposed to the government is a concession arrangement,” he said, adding a deal similar to the deal secured by Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC).

LRMC is the joint venture company of MPIC’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., Ayala Corp.’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., and the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd.

“Parang (similar to) LRMC, parang tollways, parang water concession… We proposed 30 years. That’s all subject to agreement by the government,” he said.

Asked which MPIC entity would handle the project, he said his team has yet to decide. But he said the proposal would be jointly with the Ayalas “because we have a basic understanding with them that with respect to light rail projects in Metro Manila the partnership will be sustained, unless of course they opt out.”

Mr. Pangilinan said the conduct of discussions with the DoTr “is a good sign.”

“At least [we] talk about it. So by no means, am I declaring that there’s agreement at all but at least there is a discussion,” he said.

“The MRT has had quite a number of issues for the past many years,” he said. “We want to resolve these issues for the benefit of commuters. I’m sure the government shares that objective as well,” he said. “How they will approach this is another subject matter.”

MPIC is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in ����ý through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.