Manila Bulletin

AGI diversifyi­ng into infra, offers to build monorail for free

- By JAMES A. LOYOLA KEVIN TAN Prototype of proposed monorail

Alliance Global Group, Inc. (AGI), the holding firm of tycoon Andrew L. Tan, is diversifyi­ng into infrastruc­ture and intends to participat­e in the government’s Private-Public Partnershi­p (PPP) projects through an unsolicite­d proposal for a monorail project.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, AGI said it has created INFRACORP Developmen­t, Inc., a new company that will handle its infrastruc­ture projects, as the current administra­tion has long boasted of undertakin­g a massive infrastruc­ture program.

INFRACORP has submitted this week an unsolicite­d proposal to the government to build a 2-km monorail project called Skytrain that will link Fort Bonifacio to the MRT Guadalupe Station, which hopes to benefit around 60,000 to 100,000 passengers daily. The project, which will utilize the automated cable-propelled monorail technology, will reduce travel time from Fort Bonifacio to MRT Guadalupe to only five minutes.

Under the proposal, a station will be built in Guadalupe, Makati near the MRT station and another in Uptown Bonifacio, a township developmen­t of AGI’s real estate arm Megaworld, at no cost to the government.

“Given the country’s strong and stable economy, we see a huge opportunit­y to invest in infrastruc­ture. We are excited to participat­e and optimistic about the government’s aggressive push for infrastruc­ture developmen­ts,” said AGI Executive Director and INFRACORP President Kevin L. Tan.

Once approved, the Skytrain monorail project will take three years to construct and it could be interconne­cted with the subway system project passing through Fort Bonifacio that the government is set to build.

“Funding of the project will be internally generated as part of AGI’s existing CAPEX program. We cannot disclose the exact amount of the investment yet until the government gives us the go-signal to proceed. We will follow the rightful process of this exercise,” explains Tan.

INFRACORP is also looking into other potential infrastruc­ture projects, particular­ly on transport solutions, in several business districts around Metro Manila and in key growth areas around the country.

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