Vol. XXI, No. 168 [ Business World Online ]
Friday, March 28, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
THE JAPAN BANK for International Cooperation has extended a ¥17.1-billion (P7.1 billion) supplemental loan for the completion of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, or SCTEx, raising total loans for the P60.5-billion project to ¥59 billion or P28 billion, a statement yesterday of the Japanese embassy in Manila read.
Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura and Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo yesterday signed and exchanged notes for the supplemental loan at the Department of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Pasay City.
The supplemental loan has an interest rate of 0.95% per annum and a 40-year payment period with a 10-year grace period.
The Bases Conversion Development Authority, or BCDA, provided the 15% counterpart fund, the statement read further.
BCDA President and CEO Narciso L. Abaya said in an interview after the signing ceremony yesterday that the original loan amount was "insufficient."
He said the additional funding will finance three more interchanges that will be built in the towns of Floridablanca, Porac and Clark in Pampanga and "some minor corrections" in 93.77-kilometer SCTEx stretch.
The 43.77-km Subic-Clark stretch was opened temporarily for a trial run last March 18-24, to particularly accommodate Holy Week travelers. The entire SCTEx stretch is scheduled to start "commercial operations" this April 28, Mr. Abaya said.
Mr. Abaya added that the project will have an extension that will run from La Paz, Tarlac to Rosario, La Union that is targeted to be completed in 2013.
Once completed, the SCTEX will have 34 bridges, 11 inter-changes and a four-lane toll road that is expected to cut travel time between Clark and Subic free-ports to 40 minutes, between Clark and Tarlac to 30 minutes, and from the North Luzon Expressway’s entrance in Quezon City to Subic to around one-and- a-half hours. — Bernard U. Allauigan
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