THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said it has delivered 95% of the right-of-way required for the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Harbor Link Segment 10 and expects the main line in Valenzuela City to be completed by the end of the year.
DPWH Secretary Mark A. Villar said after an inspection of the site on Thursday that the government is targeting its opening by the third or fourth quarter.
“It will depend on the final 5% (right of way), which we hope to obtain immediately. We’re really going to push. I want to finish it by this year,” Mr. Villar told reporters.
The P16.5-billion project is a public-private partnership between the government and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) through its unit NLEX Corp.
The 8.25-kilometer, four-lane toll road is divided into the 5.6-kilometer main line connecting Karuhatan, Valenzuela City to C3 road in Caloocan City, and the 2.6-kilometer extension road from C3 in Caloocan City to Radial Road 10 (R-10) in Dagat-Dagatan, Navotas City.
NLEX Corp. said in a statement that the available right-of-way in the Valenzuela City portion is now at 96%, while the Caloocan City section is at 86%.
Mr. Villar said the main line will extend to C3. For the spur road linking the highway to R-10, he said the target completion is the fourth quarter of 2019.
“The full weight of this government will be here to make sure this project will be completed at the soonest possible time,” he added.
MPTC is the tollways unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC). MPIC is one of three key Philippine units of Hong-Kong based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Denise A. Valdez
