METRO PACIFIC Tollways Corp. (MPTC) has started the bidding process to select contractors for the first phase of its P8-billion Lapu-Lapu Expressway (LLEx) expansion, which is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2027.
“We are actually bidding it out now,” MPTC President and Chief Executive Officer Gilbert Gabriel F. Santa Maria said at a recent media briefing.
“We have an alignment already, but one of the things we need to do is that a lot of it goes over the same alignment with an existing road. The feasibility is done. We acquired the concession rights, and there was already an approval to do this… We are just bidding it out to see which EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) contractors, or separate construction contractors, want to do this for us,” he added.
Mr. Santa Maria said the first phase of the LLEx is currently under detailed engineering design.
The estimated P8-billion cost covers construction, right-of-way acquisition, and concession rights, although final costs will be subject to further analysis and approval.
The project involves expanding MPTC’s Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEx), a toll road the company plans to extend to enhance traffic capacity and efficiency. The P33-billion CCLEx is an 8.9-kilometer toll bridge connecting the town of Cordova on Mactan Island to Cebu City via the South Road Properties.
“We have completed the Cebu-Cordova link bridge but in order to make the bridge more effective, and contribute to the economy of Cebu, it has to be connected to MCIA (Mactan-Cebu International Airport),” he said.
The project will also link the bridge to Metropolitan Cebu City, with ramps to Guadalupe currently being designed, Mr. Santa Maria added.
Last year, MPTC said it planned to expand both ends of CCLEx, connecting it to Bacalso and Lapu-Lapu.
MPTC also said it sought a P15-billion investment from Spanish infrastructure firm Acciona S.A. in 2024 to support the CCLEx expansion.
The company has previously been in negotiations with a European firm to support the project, which is part of its strategy to increase the expressway’s traffic, currently reaching only 30% of projected volumes and falling short of the 50,000 motorists-per-day target.
MPTC is the tollways arm of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), one of the three key Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., alongside Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc. — Ashley Erika O. Jose