Jolly season for Phl infra

’Tis the season to be jolly indeed.

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Centre executive director Cosette Canilao recently announced that government aims to roll out eight PPP projects before the end of the Aquino administration, of which three were already approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board during its last meeting.

The three PPP projects on transportation approved by the NEDA Board chaired by President Aquino are: Lines 4 and 6 of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and the Swiss Challenge for the North Luzon Expressway-South Luzon Expressway (NLEX-SLEX) Connector Road.

The P42.89-billion LRT Line 4 covers the construction of an 11-km railway from the intersection of EDSA and Ortigas Avenue in Pasig City to SM City in Taytay City, Rizal; while the P65.09 billion LRT 6 involves the construction of a 19-km line from Dasmariñas City to Niyog in Bacoor, Cavite.

The P23.2-billion NLEX-SLEX Connector Road, meanwhile, is an 8-km., four-lane toll road linking NLEX in Balintawak, Quezon City and SLEX in Makati City, and using the existing Philippine National Railway (PNR) alignment as its elevated route. This Connector Road will run parallel to the 14.82-km. Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 (Skyway 3) project of the consortium of San Miguel Corp. and Citra Metro Manila Tollway Corp. (SMC-Citra).

Being an unsolicited proposal from the Manila North Tollways Corp, the Connector Road will undergo a Swiss Challenge or price challenge (competitive bidding.

Also before Christmas, the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) finally issued the Notice to Proceed (NTP) for the first portion of the P9-billion C-5 Link Expressway of the Cavite Expressway (Cavitex).

A project of the Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. (CIC), this first phase of the C-5 Link Expressway will connect Circumferential 5 (C-5) Road in Taguig City to Moonwalk and Merville subdivisions in Sucat, Parañaque City. C-5 Link will ultimately connect with Cavitex.

[In its previous meeting, the NEDA Board approved a new passenger terminal building at the Clark International Airport in Pampanga, the Naga City Airport Development Project and the Access to Sustainable Energy Program of the Department of Energy (DOE).]

According to Canilao, the PPP Center is also hoping to get the NEDA Board’s okay on five more projects, including the Plaridel Bypass Toll Road in Bulacan, which involves the conversion of the existing 24.61-km road into expressway standards, and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Development Project, which seeks to upgrade the operational efficiencies (both airside and landside) of all existing airport terminals there.

NEDA director-general Arsenio Balisacan wants to set a NEDA Board meeting in January, as the greenlight from this Aquino-chaired body is the last approval needed before a project can be offered for public bidding.

Aside from the Plaridel Bypass Toll Road, another road project up for approval and auction in Central Luzon is Phases 1 and 2 of the Central Luzon Expressway (CLEX).

Leaders of the business community are keeping their fingers crossed that the approved infrastructure projects would not suffer the same delays that had attended previous PPP projects and that the other projects still on the drawing board would get the nod of the NEDA Board at the onset of 2016.

Two of these road projects, CIC’s C-5 Link Expressway and MNTC’s Connector Road, are badly needed to solve Metro Manila’s monstrous traffic. CIC and MNTC are subsidiaries of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., which, in turn, is the toll road operator of Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

MPTC has said that this Cavitex project will provide seamless connection to the Cavitex road network, and to the Calax (Cavite-Laguna Expressway), and that it will “spur further economic development in Paranaque and in Cavite and Laguna provinces by providing a safe and convenient link from the central and northern parts of Metro Manila to the high-growth industrial and residential centers in Southern Tagalog.”

 Apart from decongesting the Parañaque villages, the C-5 Link Expressway will provide fast, safe and convenient travel for motorists going to and from Parañaque, Las Piñas and Cavite, and will provide much-needed relief for vehicles using the congested Edsa and C-5 Road arteries of Metro Manila.

 As for the NLEX-SLEX Connector Road, MNTC’s original plan was to complete this expressway before President Aquino steps aside on June 30 next year. But due to the series of delays caused obviously by government, the full opening of the Connector Road is now expected to take place in 2019 or 2020.

 The NLEX-SLEX Connector Road would reduce travel time from NLEX to SLEX to only 15-20 minutes, and is projected to improve transport logistics as a result of the more efficient movement of cargoes, roll-on, roll-off (RORO) vessels, and passengers in and out of the ports located in Manila.

 Apart from cutting road congestion in Metro Manila’s major thoroughfares, the Connector Road will add a more direct link to the Manila port area, thereby easing the perennial port congestion because with the reduced travel time, it will encourage businesses to take their cargoes to the alternative ports in Batangas City and the Subic Freeport in Zambales.

Also, investors would start flocking to the country when this project is completed because it would enhance connectivity between our international airports and seaports, including the Subic Freeport by way of the NLEX-SCTEX route, the Batangas Port via SLEX, and the Clark International Airport (CIA) to the NAIA.

This will, in turn, improve linkages between the key growth areas of Metro Manila, Central Luzon, North Luzon and the Clark-Subic corridor. 

According to studies, the NLEX-SLEX Connector Road would decongest EDSA, C-5 and other roads in Metro Manila’s inner cities because these choked arteries would be freed of heavy vehicles traveling to and from Manila’s Port Area.  

In terms of environmental impact, the MPTC project would reduce air pollution and fuel consumption, in support of the government’s climate change agenda.

MPTC is the largest toll road operator in the country, operating 60 percent of the country’s 320 kilometers of toll roads.

It operates NLEX and SCTEX through MNTC’s Toll Management Corp. (TMC) as well as the 14-km. Cavitex through the CIC.

Also, MPIC’s MPCALA Holdings won the contract for the 44.6-km. Calax. Groundbreaking for Calax is set in March next year, but this will still depend on the DPWH’s delivery of the right of way (ROW).

Moreover, MNTC is constructing Segments 9 and 10 of the NLEX Harbor Link, which have a full-completion target date of December 2016. NLEX Segment 9 connects Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City to MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela City, while Segment 10 connects MacArthur Highway to Circumferential Road No. 3 (C-3) or 5th Avenue in Caloocan City. Segment 9 was already opened last March while Segment 10 was already 15 percent complete before the yearend.

On top of this, MNTC has its NLEX C-5 Link Project or Segment 8.2 Road, which is a 7.85-kilometer road extension from Mindanao Ave. to Commonwealth Ave., also in Quezon City.

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