AFTER a two-month delay, NLEX Corp. said it is looking to open the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Harbor Link Segment 10 before the end of February.
Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of NLEX parent company Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), told reporters last week the toll road is almost ready for operations.
“We hope to open the Segment 10 from Valenzuela City all the way to the harbor area this month. I think we’re just waiting word from Malacañang as to the availability of the President (Rodrigo R. Duterte)… We’d like to open this month sana [hopefully],” he said on Friday.
The NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 main line is a 5.6-kilometer elevated toll road that will connect Karuhatan, Valenzuela City to C3 road in Caloocan City. It will also have a 2.6-kilometer spur road from C3 to Radial Road 10 (R10) in Dagat-Dagatan, Navotas City.
Last month, MPTC Chief Financial Officer Christopher Daniel C. Lizo told reporters the spur road to R10 is targeted to finish in December 2019, with available right of way already reaching about 90%.
“To R10, (opening is in) December… (Right of way for R10 is now) maybe 90%,” he said when asked for an update.
The P15.55-billion project, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) website, is expected to reduce travel time from Valenzuela City to R10 to a little over 10 minutes from the current 25 minutes once completed. At least 30,000 cars are expected to benefit from the toll road every day.
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
