AGI‘s Makati-Fort Bonifacio monorail Skytrain up for NEDA-ICC nod

The two-kilometer Skytrain monorail project which would connect Makati City to Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, proposed by Alliance Global Group Inc.’s (AGI) infrastructure arm Infracorp Development Inc., was up for approval by the National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC).

“It’s due for NEDA-ICC [approval] already in the next meeting,” Infracorp president and AGI CEO Kevin Tan told reporters on the sidelines of the Manila Times Business Forum in Makati City on Tuesday.

Confident of getting the NEDA-ICC clearance, Tan said the company was eyeing to break ground for the Skytrain monorail project in the second half of the year.

Infracorp Development was also confident it would not have potential rivals in a Swiss challenge as it already laid the “groundwork” in preparation.

“We have made the ground works already for the right-of-way. We have also done the bidding,” Tan said.

“There’s always a Swiss challenge, but we anticipate, hopefully, there will not be any challenger,” he said.

In a Swiss challenge, other companies are given the chance to match or best an original proponent’s proposal.

A NEDA-ICC clearance would follow after the grant of original proponent status to AGI’s Infracorp for the project.  

Infracorp submitted the unsolicited proposal to the government on Oct. 26, 2017.

The Skytrain project would use automated cable-propelled monorail technology. It was envisioned to reduce the travel time from Fort Bonifacio to MRT Guadalupe Makati to only five minutes.

Infracorp also made provisions for interconnecting with other transport hubs operating along the monorail route. The company envisions the monorail to benefit 60,000 to 100,000 passengers daily who commute between the business districts of Makati and Taguig.

“It will take two to three years to complete this project. It aims to remove 30,000 cars from the street,” Tan said.

For the operations and maintenance of the Skytrain, Tan said the company was eyeing to have an operations-and-maintenance partner.

“It would most likely be one of the suppliers we will choose for the project,” he said. — DVM, GMA News