This is an article repost.
METRO PACIFIC Investments Corp. yesterday said it will pursue plans to build a high-speed train connecting the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Pampanga to Metro Manila even if the government fashions the gateway as a hub for budget carriers.
“Clark may have to start as a hub for regional budget carriers,” Metro Pacific Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters in a chance interview.
“We will be interested if the government were to bid it out,” Mr. Pangilinan said, referring to the supporting train infrastructure.
The government had earlier said it plans to develop a policy framework for DMIA and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the capital to prepare for their eventual privatization. Their development is slated to be bid out in 2012 according to an official brochure released last year.
Metro Pacific wants to rehabilitate the airport and build a high-speed railway as the airport is 85 kilometers (km) away from NAIA.
The conglomerate already owns the right-of-way from Makati to Clark which the proposed high-speed rail will need, Mr. Pangilinan said.
“[The high-speed train] should be an integral part of the airport because certain foreign carriers have already told us they will not go to Clark unless there is an express train that will bring passengers to Manila in less than an hour,” Mr. Pangilinan said.
Meanwhile, he went on to reiterate forecasts for affiliate Philex Mining Corp., saying that the miner would post record earnings this year.
Philex core net income will hike “more than” P4 billion by year end “because first half is already at P2.9 billion.”
Mr. Pangilinan said prices of gold, a safe haven amid risk aversion, are expected to increase given slower economic growth.
“The best formula is to invest in a mine with dual metals… it tends to balance each other,” Mr. Pangilinan said.
To date, Philex Mining secures 60% of its revenues from gold, and the rest from copper. Philex Mining sources its minerals from the Padcal gold and copper mine in Benguet, which is expected to be exhausted in 2019.
Shares in Philex Mining surged by 8.4% to P27.10 while stocks of Metro Pacific gained 3.1% to P3.32 each yesterday. Metro Pacific is the Philippine unit of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd. that partly owns the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT). Mediaquest Holdings, Inc., a unit of the Beneficial Trust Fund of PLDT, has a minority stake in BusinessWorld. — NJCM
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Source: Business World, Aug. 10, 2011
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