NLEX allots P15 billion for 2024 capex

MANILA, Philippines — The North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Corp. is raising its 2024 capital expenditures to P15 billion to embark on new projects and complete ongoing efforts.

NLEX Corp. will raise its capex guidance by 50 percent to P15 billion for 2024 from P10 billion this year to finance the construction of another viaduct and the delivery of a lane expansion.

In particular, NLEX Corp. president and general manager J. Luigi Bautista said the company would spend an estimated P5.5 billion to add one lane on each direction of the San Fernando section.

NLEX suffers from traffic congestion in the segment connecting San Fernando, Pampanga with the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX).

Bautista said the road widening project would help mitigate traffic buildup in the area.

“One of the pain points in NLEX is traffic congestion from San Fernando all the way to SCTEX. By next year, hopefully, within the first quarter, we hope to start construction,” Bautista said.

The concessionaire is waiting for the Toll Regulatory Board to approve the project, and hopes to begin by the first quarter of 2024 with the goal of completing it in two years.

Further, NLEX Corp. is building the third Candaba Viaduct to improve trade and travel within and around Central Luzon.

The infrastructure – estimated to cost nearly P8 billion – is being raised in the middle of the two existing viaducts bridging the Bulacan and Pampanga sections of the toll road.

To date, Bautista said NLEX Corp. has completed 30 percent of the construction, and the company is poised to finish the project as scheduled.

The bridge, once finished, will serve as the main thoroughfare for trucks transporting heavy cargo.

Apart from this, NLEX Corp. may kick off the construction of the NLEX Segment 8.2 next year. Bautista said the concessionaire is just awaiting the Department of Public Works and Highways to transfer the right of way for the extension.

NLEX Segment 8.2 will expand NLEX from Segment 8.1 in Mindanao Avenue to C.P. Garcia in Quezon City, and it should cost P11.5 billion based on the proposal filed before the DPWH.

NLEX Corp., a unit of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., holds the right to operate and maintain NLEX, NLEX Connector Road and SCTEX.