Citra Lamtoro clinches $475m tollroad project in Manila
Citra Lamtoro clinches $475m tollroad project in Manila
JAKARTA (JP): Citra Lamtoro, a consortium led by President
Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, clinched here
yesterday a US$475 million tollroad project in the Philippine
capital of Manila.
The signing of the memorandum of understanding on Citra
Lamtoro's financing of the Metro Manila Skyway project was
attended by Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos, who was here to
take part in the second informal summit of the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Bogor, West Java, on
Tuesday.
The memorandum of understanding, considered a preliminary
commitment of Citra Lamtoro's lenders to arranging its financing
plans, was signed by Hardiyanti and her co-financiers Paul V.
Applegarth of the Emerging Markets Corporation -- a main advisor
to the Washington-based AIG-Asian Infrastructure Fund -- and
Jaime Gonzalez, managing director of the AIA Capital Corporation
Limited, at the Sahid Jaya Hotel here yesterday.
"We have committed to helping provide some $475 million for
the development of the Manila project. But we cannot decide
exactly how the investment will take place yet, because we are
still negotiating with the Philippine government over the
implementation of the project," Applegarth told reporters after
the ceremony.
He conceded that there are some items in the tollroad
concession which still need clarification and approval from the
Philippine government.
Hardiyanti assured reporters that she has planned to enter a
final agreement with her co-financiers for financing the project
by early December.
"It is our target to start construction of the project by
early next year, in hopes that after three years, the project
will be operational," she said.
BOT scheme
Hardiyanti, who is popularly called Mbak Tutut, said her
consortium will build, operate and transfer (BOT) a tollroad
linking Sucat and Nichols in Manila.
"The project will include the construction of a 12.54-
kilometer elevated skyway above the South Luzon Expressway in
Sucat through Buendia, as well as an upgrading work of 14.5-
kilometer surface road from Alabang to Nichols," she said, adding
that the skyway is designed to have six lanes.
The planned skyway is expected to alleviate the traffic
problem in the corridor linking the busy Makati financial
district with the rapidly developing industrial and commercial
districts south of Manila, she said.
Tutut added that the elevated skyway, which will be supported
by a single column, will use the Indonesian technology of
rotating pier heads, called the Sosrobahu hydraulic non-friction
rotating system.
The Sosrobahu system, which was introduced in 1988 in
Indonesia, is a flat hydraulic non-friction rotating device
placed in the center of an octagonal pier at the neck below the
pier head, for strengthening the heavy construction.
Citra Lamtoro, grouping PT Bhaskhara Duniajaya and PT Citra
Marga Nusaphala Persada, entered a concession agreement with the
Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC) recently for
undertaking the construction, financing and management of the
Metro Manila Skyway Project.
Citra Lamtoro has built similar skyways in Jakarta in
cooperation with Japanese engineering companies. (fhp)