NEDA Board approves Swiss challenge for TPLEX extension

THE NATIONAL Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board has given the Public Works department the greenlight to proceed with the Swiss challenge for the P23.4-billion Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) extension project, the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center said on Thursday.

Under the plan, the department will invite third parties to offer better deals on the project. The original proponent, San Miguel Holdings Corp., can then match the offers, it said in an e-mailed statement.

The project is expected to be awarded by May 2024 if there will be challengers, otherwise it will be awarded to the original proponent two months earlier, PPP Center said.

Construction is expected to be completed in five years.

The TPLEX extension project, which will be implemented through a public-private partnership, is a 59.4-kilometer, four-lane toll road that will start from the TPLEX in Rosario, La Union in northern Philippines and will end in San Juan, La Union.

It seeks to boost the economy by providing an additional expressway that will link the Ilocos Region, Central Luzon and Metro Manila.

The NEDA Board, which is headed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., also approved the negotiated terms of the project between state negotiators and San Miguel Holdings, NEDA Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan told a Palace briefing after the board meeting on Thursday.

The Board also approved the third phase of the Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) maritime safety capability project, Mr. Balisacan said.

The P29.3-billion project involves the design, construction and delivery of five units of 97-meter multi-role response vessels for the PCG. The project also includes a five-year integrated logistics support.

Mr. Balisacan said the project would boost the coast guard’s “capability to respond to threats and incidents within the country’s maritime jurisdiction.”

“The project will enable the Coast Guard to secure important sea lines of communication in the West Philippine Sea, Sulu-Celebes Seas and the Philippine Sea,” he said. “It will also help the PCG combat illegal activities and enforce maritime laws in Philippine waters.”

The PCG project will be financed through an Official Development Assistance loan from Japan.

The deal was among the highlights of the recent two-day state visit to the Philippines of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has vowed to promote an open and free Indo-Pacific region.

Mr. Kishida, in his address to the Philippine Congress, said the last pillar of Tokyo’s New Free and Open Indo-Pacific Plan seeks to extend “efforts for security and safe use of the sea to the air.”

“Japan has hitherto provided 12 ships to the Coast Guard to play a part in improving the Philippines’ maritime security capability,” he said at the weekend.

Mr. Balisacan said the NEDA Board had also approved a P28.2-billion agrarian reform bridge project. The government will build 350 modular steel bridges with an estimated total length of 10,500 linear meters to “enhance access and connectivity for agrarian reform communities.”

The bridges project will also boost the productivity and income of about 350,000 households, Mr. Balisacan said. “The ease of mobility and access to and from the agrarian reform communities will generate more employment and address the communities’ need for better access to social services and market outlets for their agricultural products.”

At the same briefing, Mr. Balisacan said the Public Works department’s Samar Pacific Coastal Road project, one of the 197 flagship infrastructure projects of the Marcos administration, has been completed.

The road, which links the towns of Laoang, Catubig and Palapag through a circumferential road around the entire Samar Island, is expected to “enhance economic activity in the region by improving the delivery and movement of essential goods and services and creating more job opportunities.” — K.A.T. Atienza