CMNP Manila project runs ahead of schedule

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed toll operator PT Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada (CMNP) said yesterday that the first phase of construction of its Metro Manila Skyway project in the Philippine capital will be completed by April 1999, three months ahead of schedule.

CMNP's director Teddy Kharsadi said that the project's first phase, covering the construction of a 9.3-km six-lane fly-over and a 13.5-km non-fly-over road, was started in June 1996 and more than 50 percent of it has been completed.

By accelerating construction work of the 22.5-km tollway, CMNP hopes to open a 4.7-km segment to traffic by September this year, Teddy said.

He added that total investment in the project's first phase was US$514 million, of which Indonesian private companies shared $59 million, inclusive of 21 percent from PT Citra Marga, while $59 million came from the Filipino counterparts.

Teddy said that the project's construction work is being done with Indonesia's PT Hutama Karya and RSEA of Taiwan as contractors.

He added that CMNP's project management team was assisting the Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corporation (CMMTC) -- an Indonesian- Filipino joint venture supervising the project -- in seeing to it that the 7-year project will be finished on time, the design and construction quality standards will be met, and optimum efficiency is achieved in work procedures and construction cost.

He added that the recently-finished Villamore-Bicutan stretch of the project was personally tested last week by the former Philippine President Fidel Ramos together with Philippine Minister of Public Works Gregorio Vigilar and Indonesian Deputy Ambassador Abdul Hadi Adnan.

The Metro Manila Skyway project will eventually cover a total distance of 108 kilometers, including fly-over and non-fly-over sections. It will be built in four phases and entirely completed by the year 2002.

Teddy said that the total investment for all four phases was still being calculated.

The Manila project is CMNP's second overseas project, following its first in Malaysia from 1991 to 1993.

CMNP, established in 1987, locally operates the 16-kilometer toll road linking Cawang, East Jakarta, and Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, and the 13.13-km toll road connecting Tanjung Priok and Jembatan Tiga in Pluit, West Jakarta.

CMNP holds 30-year build-operate-transfer contracts until 2019 over the Cawang-Tanjung Priok toll road and until 2025 over the Tanjung Priok-Jembatan Tiga toll road.

Former President Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana claimed to have a mere 2.2 stake in CMNP through her company PT Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada. The remaining stakes are owned by the public (39.5 percent), state toll road company Jasa Marga (17.79), Yayasan Purna Bhakti Pertiwi (11.01), cement producer Indocement (8.8), transportation company Steady Safe (7.6), Steady Safe Finance (6.6), state steel producer Krakatau Steel (6.06) and cooperatives (0.4).

Several of its projects, including the 36.5-km Waru-Tanjung Perak toll road in East Java, have been put under review by local authorities who suspect the company obtained them through political connections, corruption and collusion. (gis)