We refer to Mr. Cito Beltran’s opinion piece on the Skyway, called “Reason to doubt…,” which appeared in his column “CTalk”, The Philippine STAR, Oct. 25 issue.
First of all, we acknowledge and apologize for the inconvenience that Mr. Beltran experienced because of the traffic slowdown last Saturday (10/23/10) at the Skyway’s at-grade level between C5 and Bicutan. This was caused by the construction of drainage pipes crossing the at-grade tollway from the median towards the West Service Road (WSR).
This drainage line is meant to carry the water collected at the median from the Skyway’s new elevated section to the main drainage system along the WSR. Our contractor, D.M. Consunji, Inc., needs to construct three such drainage connections, and yes, in areas where there are no construction work for the elevated structure. This is part of the traffic management strategy allowing DMCI to work on staggered arrangements to balance achieving work progress and minimizing traffic inconvenience. Currently, DMCI has already finished two of these drainage lines. It will construct the last one after the Skyway System operator, Skyway O&M Corporation (SOMCO), gives its go-signal to do so. SOMCO, by the way, is also in charge of traffic management during construction of Skyway Stage 2 or the 6.88-km elevated toll road from Bicutan-Alabang.
Constructing these cross drains on the tollway is very important for the Skyway Stage 2 project. This will complete the drainage system of the new elevated section and integrate it with that of the at-grade section. It is unfortunate that the activity has caused heavy traffic. However, it is never our intention to create “heavy traffic” to get motorists to use the Skyway’s elevated section to our “best interest,” as Mr. Beltran wrote in his article. Using the Skyway’s elevated section is an option.
The Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the government agencies mandated to oversee all activities at the tollways, strictly enforce standards that safeguard the motoring public’s interest. Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corporation (CMMTC), the Skyway project developer, and SOMCO cooperate with the TRB, DPWH and other concerned government offices to improve our toll facilities and service. While we expect a certain return of investment, the TRB, DPWH and our own preference for fairness to motorists do not allow us to employ what Mr. Beltran labeled in his article as “obstruction” tactics to “recoup [our] sizable investment” at the expense of good service. We take our responsibility to motorists seriously. The government also makes sure we do. In fact, we heeded public clamor and calls by some legislators to make up to the motorists for the traffic inconvenience caused by the construction of Stage 2. We implemented a 23.5 percent toll discount on July 14, 2009 which the motorists continue to enjoy until now.
We greatly value transparency at the Skyway. We regret that while Mr. Beltran had a friend he can call on at SLEx last Saturday, he felt that he had no one to turn to at the Skyway. We do not want for this to happen nor do we wish to remain a “faceless entity”—not to Mr. Beltran or to any of the other motorists using our tollway. Our communication lines are always open to everyone. Any interested party may view our company and projects at www.skyway.com. ph. We will be happy to clarify issues and concerns that anyone may have regarding the Skyway. Motorists can call SOMCO’s hotline 7767777 for traffic update round-the-clock or the CMMTC office at 7763909, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. They can also email us at skyway@skyway.com or corpcomm@cmmtc.com.