Speed up SLEX repairs, Ebdane urged

MANILA, Philippines - Quezon Rep. Proceso Alcala urged Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to expedite the improvements and repairs being done along the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX).

In House Resolution 1258, Alcala said Ebdane should see to it that the SLEX contractor work overtime to speed up the rehabilitation of the expressway.

While it used to take only three hours to reach Lucena City from Makati, he said it now takes six hours or more because of the snail-paced repairs.

“This has caused not just loss of time, man-hours and business opportunities, especially among vegetable and fish traders, but also unnecessary irritation, annoyance and even fatal rise in blood pressure among motorists and commuters,” he said.

He added that the situation naturally worsens during weekends, holidays and rainy days.

Alcala said the public has suffered so much inconvenience due to the slow work on SLEX and it is time that the government, through Ebdane, to intervene to give people some relief.

The toll road is the main highway to areas south of Metro Manila.

Alcala said commuters from Laguna, Quezon, Batangas, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, and Sorsogon have been complaining about the delay in the improvement of the expressway but that their complaints have fallen on deaf ears.

“Attention has been particularly focused on the southbound stretch from Nichols, where three lanes merge into two just before the Bicutan interchange, creating a bottleneck that’s made worse by the Philippine National Construction Co.’s strange logic of installing concrete barriers and rubber pylons to close the third lane under the overpass,” he said.

“What’s the point of building the third lane if it won’t be used?” Alcala, who is a civil engineer, asked.

He said on heavy traffic days, southbound vehicles can pile up to as far as Magallanes due to the Bicutan congestion.

Several congressmen who live in the affluent Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa and BF Homes in Parañaque have also complained about the traffic mess along SLEX.

Among them are Reps. Paul Daza of Northern Samar, Rodolfo Albano III of Isabela, Rozzano Rufino Biazon of Muntinlupa, and Roilo Golez of Parañaque.