THE Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) said on Friday that it is willing to sell the government's stake in the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) to Pangilinan-led NLEX Corp. at the right price.

"If the right price will be offered, then the government can consider it seriously," BCDA President Joshua Bingcang said during the One Clark Forum hosted by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines and BCDA.

Bingcang added that currently, SCTEX is already giving the BCDA enough funds to finance other projects.NLEX has earlier proposed to buy out the government stake in the SCTEX.

Bingcang explained that the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. is not buying SCTEX, and it will remain with the government.

"We have a 30-year concession with them, I think we already have 8 years done. The remaining 22 years, [NLEX Corp.] wants to prepay all the projected future shares of this area," he said.

Bingcang did not specify the amount offered by the MVP-led company but said that it was within P20 billion.Under the agreement, BCDA and NLEX Corp. share 50-50 of the revenue in the SCTEX.

BCDA, meanwhile, is still responsible for repaying its debt to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the ¥59.04-billion SCTEX construction project.

"In order for us to consider that proposal, our balance of debt to JICA is around P20 billion. So you want at least a minimum of that in order to be assured of your debt," the BCDA official said."So in the next 20 years, you are assured of paying the foreign lender. So that will be the starting point. You want something for the government, for the public," he added. Read The Rest at :