NLEX Corp. lowers capex budget for 2024

NLEX Corp., a unit of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), said it is allocating P12 billion for its capital expenditure (capex) budget this year.

“For this year, we are about P12 billion. Last year, we were about P15 billion, but we were not able to consume it,” NLEX Corp. President and General Manager J. Luigi L. Bautista told reporters in a recent interview.

This year’s target spending includes the budget for projects such as the Candaba viaduct project, the 8.2 segment, and the widening and expansion of the Mexico interchange, valued at about P6.5 billion, he said.

Its capex budget will be funded by operational revenue and external sources, while about P3 billion from last year’s capex was carried over in 2024, he noted.

The NLEX-C5 (Segment 8.2) is an 8.30-kilometer four-lane and 2×2 expressway from Segment 8.1 at Mindanao Avenue to Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

The P7.89-billion Candaba third viaduct project in Pampanga is expected to be operational by yearend.

The project is being implemented in partnership with Hong Kong-based Leighton Asia and is covered by the NLEX concession deal.

Currently, the company will be having fundraising for about 5 billion of its capex, Mr. Bautista said.

“We will still have to raise funds. We will be fundraising for this (Segment 8.2),” he said, adding that the company aims to obtain funds as soon as it has secured approval from the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB).

To recall, NLEX has earlier projected to set aside P15 billion for its capex budget in 2024.

MPTC is the tollways unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., one of three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc.

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