TRB sets toll for newly opened segment of TPLEX

MANILA, Philippines - The Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) has given diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) the green light to collect fees for the new segment of the P24-billion Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) that was opened last April 16.

Edmund Reyes Jr., TRB executive director, said in a Notice of Toll Rate that the implementation of the pre-accepted toll rates starting June 13 was based on the Toll Concession Agreement between SMC’s Private Infra Development Corp. (PIDC) and the Department of Public Works and Highways as well as TRB.

The new rates would cover Segment 4 of the toll road stretching from Paniqui in Tarlac to Moncada in Tarlac as well as Segment 5 from Moncada to Carmen  in Pangasinan.

Under the approved rates, class 1 users including cars and jeepneys entering La Paz would be charged P30 until Victoria, P58 until Gerona, P79 until Paniqui, P99 until Moncada, and P164 until Carmen while class 2 vehicles including buses and trucks would have to shell out P76 until Victoria, P145 until Gerona, P197 until Paniqui, P247 until Moncada, and P410 until Carmen.

On the other hand, class 3 vehicles or trucks with more than two axles would be charged P91 until Victoria, P175 until Gerona, P237 until Paniqui, P296 until Moncada, and P492 until Carmen.

PIDC president Mark Dumol led the opening of the 32.3-kilometer stretch from Paniqui to Carmen last April 16 in time for the Holy Week.

This brought the opened portion of the 88.85-km TPLEX to 49.3 kilometers.

Dumol earlier said PIDC hopes to open another 13.72-km portion from Carmen to Urdaneta in Pangasinan this December while the last section stretching 25.83 kilometers from Urdaneta in Pangasinan to Rosario in La Union would be completed next year.

In October last year, PIDC opened the project’s 17-kilometer Phase 1A from Tarlac City to Victoria, Pura, then Gerona, for free, to the public.

President Aquino formally opened the Paniqui exit of TPLEX via an inaugural drive-through last Dec. 23 bringing to 23 kilometers the total length of the TPLEX that is operational.

SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang earlier said PIDC expects to fully complete the toll road by 2015 or three years ahead of 2018 schedule.

“In terms of construction, we are ahead of schedule. We are on track to delivering the entire length of TPLEX as early as 2015,” Ang stressed.

The two-hour travel time from Tarlac to Carmen will be cut to only thirty minutes. Once completed, it will cut travel time from Tarlac to La Union to only one hour.

The TPLEX, one of several infrastructure projects in SMC’s portfolio and its first greenfield tollway project, is seen as a vital road project in Luzon, connecting the central and northern Luzon provinces to Manila and beyond through the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and the North Luzon Expressway.