SAN MIGUEL Corp. (SMC) has started work on its 1.2-kilometer road project that will link the newly opened Skyway Stage 3 to the NLEX (North Luzon Expressway) Connector being built by Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), its top official said.
“The connection, part of the detailed engineering design of the Skyway 3 project, can be completed within 24 months or less as soon as the ROW (right of way) issues with the landowners are resolved,” SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang was quoted as saying in an e-mailed statement.
He said the company would start working in areas that are “unobstructed.”
“We’re also already committing the funds needed to buy the ROW properties, so hopefully, these issues will be resolved the soonest,” he added.
The NLEX Connector Road project is the eight-kilometer toll road linking the tail of NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 at C3 Road in Caloocan City to Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa, Manila.
MPTC’s NLEX Corp. and the Department of Public Works and Highways are currently working on the first five-kilometer section of NLEX Connector from Caloocan Interchange, C3 to España.
The NLEX Connector project is expected to reach España “by yearend,” according to NLEX Corp.
Once completed, the project is expected to cut travel time from NLEX to South Luzon Expressway from two hours to about 20 minutes.
MPTC is the tollways unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., 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. — Arjay L. Balinbin
