Tycoon Andrew Tan wants to build Makati-Fort Bonifacio 'Skytrain' at no cost to gov't

Tycoon Andrew Tan's Alliance Global Group Inc. said on Wednesday a newly established infrastructure arm has offered to build a monorail connecting Bonifacio Global City to Edsa-Guadalupe at no cost to the government.

Infracorp Development Inc., the newly incorporated unit of AGI, has submitted an unsolicited proposal to build a 2-km monorail project—the Skytrain—connecting Fort Bonifacio to the MRT Guadalupe Station, Alliance Global told the Philippine Stock Exchange.

"Under the proposal, a station will be built in Guadalupe, Makati City near the MRT station and another in Uptown Bonifacio, a township development of AGI’s real estate arm Megaworld, at no cost to the government," AGI noted.

The project will employ the automated cable-propelled monorail technology, and is expected to reduce travel time from Fort Bonifacio to MRT Guadalupe to five minutes for the benefit of 60,000 to 100,000 passengers daily.

“Funding of the project will be internally-generated as part of AGI’s existing CAPEX program," said Kevin Tan, executive director of AGI and the appointed president of Infracorp.

"We cannot disclose the exact amount of the investment yet until the government gives us the go signal to proceed," Tan added.

“Given the country’s strong and stable economy, we see a huge opportunity to invest in infrastructure,” he said.

The Skytrain monorail will take three years to construct and can be interconnected with the subway system project passing through Fort Bonifacio that the government is set to build.

Infracorp is also looking at other potential projects, particularly transport solutions, in several business districts around Metro Manila and in key growth areas around the country. — Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News