Arbitration tribunal denies NLEX Corp. claim for damages from tolls regulator
METRO Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) announced on Tuesday that the Permanent Court of Arbitration has denied NLEX Corp.’s claim for damages from the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB).
The tribunal ruled that the TRB is not accountable for “unreasonable delay” on petitions for toll rate adjustments filed by MPIC’s tollways unit NLEX Corp. in 2012 and 2014, the listed company said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.
“The Tribunal also noted that the TRB already decided on the 2012 and 2014 petitions when the TRB issued its resolution in 2018 approving an upward adjustment in the toll rates in NLEX, which have been implemented since March 2019,” MPIC said. “Based on the foregoing, the Tribunal also denied NLEX Corp.’s claim for damages.”
MPIC also said the rejection of the claim is without prejudice to further review by the TRB of the petitions.
Each party will bear an equal share of the arbitration costs and will bear their own costs of legal representation and assistance, it noted.
The company said it received notice of the ruling on Tuesday. It also received notice of the tribunal’s decision on Cavitex Infrastructure Corp.’s arbitration case against the TRB.
“The Tribunal issued its final termination order, considering that the claimants Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. and Philippine Reclamation Authority have earlier withdrawn both their claims for compensation arising from non-approval of their petitions for rate adjustment filed in 2011 and 2014,” MPIC said.
Cavitex, also a toll road unit of MPIC, is the joint venture partner of the Philippine Reclamation Authority for the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway Project.
“The order thus terminated the Cavitex arbitration case. In the meantime, the said petitions are now being processed by the TRB,” it added.
MPIC is one of three key Philippine units of First Pacific, the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc.
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