P5 worth of convenience: Parañaque City to open Kabihasnan Road

For a P5 toll, motorists can use the Coastal Road via Kabihasnan Road in Parañaque City starting tomorrow.

Parañaque City Rep. Eduardo Zialcita, who has been coordinating with the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) to open the alternative road, said yesterday the amount would mainly be used for maintenance purposes of the toll booths as well as the security of the area.

"I think that’s the standard operating procedure," Zialcita said when asked about the toll collection.

The lawmaker added that the opening of Kabihasnan, which had been an idle stretch of a road for more than a year, was timed for today’s celebration of Parañaque City Day. President Arroyo is expected to grace the ceremonial opening of the Kabihasnan exit at 4 p.m.

A two-week dry run will commence tomorrow, with the road opened to motorists from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

"After the dry run, motorists can use Kabihasnan for 24 hours," Zialcita said.

Kabihasnan Road was built during the term of former Mayor Pablo Olivarez to serve as an alternative route for motorists, mostly from Parañaque, Zapote, and Las Piñas, using Quirino Highway and Sucat Road/Ninoy Aquino Avenue going to Manila.

The TRB, which has jurisdiction over Coastal Road, closed the Kabihasnan Exit when Maynilad Water Co. performed some excavation work for a pipe-laying project more than a year ago.

Maynilad, however, said it completed the project last April and restored the pavement. Jeepney drivers soon turned the idle road into a terminal and a rest area.

Zialcita has been urging the TRB to open the Kabihasnan Exit since the Quirino Highway would be closed for at least six months to undergo repairs as well as to give way to the construction of a new Don Galok-La Huerta Bridge.

"All hell will break loose," Zialcita earlier warned if Kabihasnan and Quirino would be closed to motorists at the same time.

When asked what caused the delay in the re-opening of the road, Zialcita said the TRB did not give him a specific reason. "It could be the usual government bureaucracy," he said.

The lawmaker earlier explained that when the Philippine Estates Authority (PEA) built the Coastal Road years ago, it failed to build a service road going toward Parañaque, which compelled the city government to build Kabihasnan.

Zialcita and the PEA, together with barangay leaders and squatter residents along Coastal Road, have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) so that a service road parallel to the highway could be built.

"It also took the PEA some time to build the service road because several hundred squatter families were already in the area," the congressman said.

He said families would be given the chance to own land where they would be relocated through the Community Mortgage Program. About 10-20 percent of the squatter families have already vacated the area where the service road would be built, he added.

Zialcita explained that PEA is expected to build the service road within the year. The tollway, he said, would be at the Kabihasnan Exit up to the time the service road is completed.