BY ANNA LEAH E. GONZALES, as seen on https://www.manilatimes.net/mptcs-indon-expressway-to-be-completed-in-2020/475036/, NOVEMBER 29, 2018

BY: ANNA LEAH E. GONZALES

Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), the tollway arm of listed Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC), said its $20-million expressway in Indonesia is expected to be completed in 2020.

At the MPTC Stakeholders Cocktails in Taguig City on Tuesday night, MPTC President and Chief Executive Officer Rodrigo Franco said the 4.4-kilometer expressway inside the Pettarani Toll Road in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province will have a “significant impact on addressing traffic congestion” there once it is finished.

For this project, MPTC partnered with major Indonesian infrastructure firm PT Nusantra and has a 79.9-percent equity interest in the joint venture.

The toll road is part of MPTC’s expansion projects in Southeast Asia, which includes those in Thailand and Vietnam.

“In Vietnam, we are involved in three expressway construction projects for the Binh Trieu 2 (22.4 km); Hanoi Highway Expansion (4.4 km); and Rach Mieu 2, which is 5.7 km in length,” Franco said.

The Binh Trieu 2 project will be completed next year; the Hanoi expansion, 2020; and Rach Mieu 2, 2021.

Vietnamese firm CII had sought an additional $50 million from MPTC to fund these projects. MPTC owns 45 percent of CII construction unit CII Bridges and Roads Investment Co.

In Thailand, MPTC partnered with Don Muang Tollway Public Co. Ltd. to operate the 21.9-km elevated expressway that runs from central Bangkok to the city’s northern part.

“MPTC is now going beyond Philippines shores. And so our forays into three countries in [Southeast Asia], at least initially, will tell immediately that we at MPTC are on expansive mode,” Franco said.