The Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) has approved San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) Skyway Stage 3 provisional toll rates.
“Please note, however, that the approval of provisional toll rates does not automatically mean that the proponent may immediately be given the authority to start collecting toll fees,” the TRB said in a statement on Friday.
Class 1 vehicles like cars and vans that use the skyway from Buendia to Sta. Mesa will pay P105; P30 from Sta. Mesa to Ramon Magsaysay; P129 from Ramon Magsaysay to North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Balintawak; and P264 from Buendia to NLEX Balintawak.
Rates will double for Class 2 vehicles like buses and trucks and triple for Class 3 vehicles like large trucks.
The toll regulator said the provisional toll fee matrix will be published once a week for three consecutive weeks.
A bond will also be required to be posted by San Miguel.
The TRB also said the testing of Skyway 3’s toll collection equipment and system will start on Monday, March 29.
The testing will take place in areas where toll road facilities have been completed, it added.
This is to make sure that “there are no system glitches or flaws to avoid a repeat of the RFID (radio-frequency identification) problems we had in the past,” the toll regulator noted.
There are four conditions that San Miguel has to meet before it could start collecting fees: At least 95% completion rate, the project must be in accordance with the approved plans, safe and commercially operable, and toll road facilities have been installed.
Last week, SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang said the project was “97% complete.”
The TRB said it was validating Mr. Ang’s claim “as part of its regulatory function to check possible oversight on the computation.”
Skyway Stage 3 links the South Luzon Expressway in Alabang to NLEX in Balintawak. — Arjay L. Balinbin
