Metro Pacific Tollways, Japan Expressway companies sign accord
Metro Pacific Tollways, Japan Expressway companies sign accord
MANILA, Philippines — A consortium of major Philippine and Japanese expressway players recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on technical cooperation and exchange of information regarding areas of mutual interest in their respective expressway systems.
Witnessed by its chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) executed the MOU with Japan Expressway International Co. Ltd. (JEXWAY), Central Nippon Expressway Co. Ltd (NEXCO Central) and Metropolitan Expressway Co. Ltd. (MEX) to commence the exchange of information on engineering expertise and technology and cooperate on matters concerning designing, building and managing expressways.
Covered by the MOU are asset management and repair of at-grade and elevated road and bridge sections, tunnel design and construction and the use of best practices to monitor the structural performance of expressway assets and facilities, including technical audits to address all kinds of conditions and requirements.
MPTC president and CEO Rodrigo Franco said “we are very happy to sign this technical cooperation agreement with JEXWAY, NEXCO Central and MEX as this will allow us to tap into the wealth of Japanese road engineering experience and technology” and perhaps help “in our roadways to make sure that we are able to survive future earthquakes” given Japan’s own history of similar natural disasters.
For his part, JEXWAY president Dr. Koji Kuroda said, “Japan lies on the so-called ‘ring of fire’ and volcanic eruptions are very common.” During disasters, “operations and maintenance is key” as the expressways are the most important infrastructure in the region.
MPTC is the largest toll road developer and operator in the Philippines in terms of annual average daily traffic and combined length of the expressway network. MPTC’s tollway concessions include the North Luzon Expressway, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, the Cavite Expressway, the NLEX Connector, the Cavite-Laguna Expressway and the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway. MPTC also has significant investments in tollway companies in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.
Signing as witnesses were J. Luigi Bautista, president and GM of NLEX Corp.; lawyer Romulo Quimbo, senior VP for communication and stakeholder management of MPTC; Toru Suzuki, senior director JEXWAY; Takeo Nakamura, managing officer of NEXCO Central and Hiroshi Dobashi, executive officer of MEX.
After the MOU signing, MPTC, JEXWAY, NEXCO Central and MEX jointly conducted a seminar attended by each other’s technical teams focusing on engineering, ETC toll collection systems and commercial areas development.
Source: MSN.com