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)