NLEX expansion to affect 1,300 families in Valenzuela

MANILA, Philippines - The North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) expansion program, scheduled to start next year, would hit at least four villages in Valenzuela City and affect more than 1,300 families, an official said yesterday.

Ahna Khristina Mejia, Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian’s public information officer, assured residents that the city government has already started drawing up plans for the possible in-city relocation for affected residents.

Segment 9 of the NLEX Phase 2-C5 Road project would cut through Barangays Gen. T. de Leon, Parada, Maysan and Karuhatan. The project is intended to decongest MacArthur Highway, one of the primary routes to Northern Luzon, by providing motorists additional entry and exit access to the NLEX.

The actual construction will start in October next year and the relocation of affected residents is expected to begin in February.

Mejia said engineer Pepito Consunji Jr. of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) assured residents no demolition would be conducted unless residents were compensated.

Mejia said the DPWH allotted P100 million for the project’s right of way and the money will be available in January or February.

Another project in the offing, the NLEX-Harbor Link or Segment 10, which would connect MacArthur Highway to Port Area in Manila, would pass through Barangays Karuhatan and Malinta and affect hundreds of families.