Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), formerly First Philippine Infrastructure Inc., is planning to seek official development assistance from multilateral lenders to help fund its P38.1-billion road projects in North Luzon.

MPTC president and chief executive officer Ramon Fernandez said they want to tap the World Bank and the Japan Bank of International Cooperation for financing.

"We are looking for ways and means to raise the funding needed. It would be a combination of loans and equities," he said in an interview.

MPTC, through unit Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), is set to start construction of the P2.1-billion, 2.7-kilometer road that will link Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). The company earlier signed a loan facility with the Philippine National Bank for the two-lane project called Segment 8.1.

The project also covers the construction of a toll collection system similar to that of NLEX.

With Leighton Contractors (Philippines) Inc. as civil works contractor, Segment 8.1 will be completed on or before April 30, 2010 to ease the flow of traffic on the Edsa-Balintawak route going to NLEX.

Aside from the Segment 8.1, projects in the pipeline include Segment 9 and 10, which will connect NLEX to MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela and Port Area in Manila; NLEX-SLEX connector road expressway from C3 road in Caloocan to Buendia Avenue in Makati; and Skyway stage 2 from Bicutan to Alabang.

MNTC president and CEO Rodrigo Franco said the set of road projects they have will not only perk up the country's economy, but also create roughly 107,000 jobs in engineering, construction, traffic patrolling, monitoring and toll collection.