The Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. on Monday bared support for the proposed acquisition of the government’s stake at the Subic Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) by the state-owned pension funds.
“It’s up to them. We made an offer so if they see that it’s better for the government to hold the shares, that’s fine. I can’t change that mindset,” Rogelio Singson, MPTC president and chief executive, told reporters.
This developed in the wake of comments by Finance Secretary Ralph Recto that the government is considering the sale of its share at SCTEX to the Social Security System (SSS) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) instead.
The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), also state-owned, said the MPTC similarly offered to buy out the government shareholdings at SCTEX for P20 billion.
Singson believes tollway operations are handled better by the private sector.
The BCDA’s share from SCTEX toll operations totaled P573 million in the first quarter this year, representing 50 percent of toll revenue at SCTEX.
This was also 17 percent more than a year earlier and the result of higher toll revenue generation at the SCTEX.
Funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency, the SCTEX is a 91-kilometer expressway stretching from Subic-Tipo to La Paz, Tarlac and connecting the special economic zones in Olongapo City, Subic and Clark to Tarlac City.
Apart from SCTEX, the MPTC also offered to buy the government’s interest at the Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) project and the North Luzon Expressway.
