Cavitex fare hike looms

Subsidiaries of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) are set to  file arbitration cases against the government over its inaction on pending petitions for toll-fee adjustments, in gross violation of their separate concession deals with Malacañang.

Mall near Cavitex

In a recent forum, MPIC President-CEO Jose Ma. Lim said the conglomerate might initiate arbitration proceedings against the government as a last resort over the long-delayed toll-rate petitions by the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) and the Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. (CIC). MNTC and CIC respectively operate the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) and the Cavite Expressway (Cavitex).

House near Cavitex

Lim said the government’s failure to honor its contracts with MNTC and CIC affects the competitiveness of MPIC’s participation in major infrastructure auctions under the Public-Private Partnership
Program.

MPIC said the continued freeze on toll-rate increases is affecting the financial viability of its infrastructure projects because MNTC has four years’ worth of inflation adjustments pending for Nlex, while CIC has six years of inflation adjustments for Cavitex, equivalent to 19 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

“These inflation adjustments are embedded in the concession agreements, but getting the regulator to act on our applications has been a futile exercise,” Lim said. “In order to enforce our rights, we have issued a formal demand that may end up in an arbitration with the regulator.”

The regulator in this case is the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB),  which has rejected the MNTC petition to claim from the government about P2.4 billion in foregone revenues.

“We have a provision in our concession agreement that the government would adjust the toll rates in accordance to the contract,” Franco said. “Pursuant to the provisions of the contract, we were just claiming from government lost revenues—that was rejected by the TRB.”

“We are technically on the mandatory amicable settlement stage after which we will go to mediation. Arbitration will come after,”  Franco said. “We want to see what progress they will generate from their toll-rate review process.”
Source: Business Mirror