THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is close to completing the relocation of some of its electric facilities to give way for the construction of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Expressway project.
“Roughly, our overall completion rate is around 85 percent,” Meralco Networks Head Ronnie Aperocho said in a text message.
The Naia Expressway project is a four-lane elevated expressway with a total length of 7.15 kilometers. It will be implemented in two major phases.
Phase 2A will run through Naia Road with ramps to Roxas Boulevard, Macapagal Boulevard and Pagcor City.
Phase 2B, meanwhile, will start from the existing Skyway in the South Luzon Expressway and then through Sales Avenue, Andrews Avenue and Tambo River.
The route of the expressway will provide access to Naia Terminals 1, 2 and 3, linking them to the Skyway and the Manila-Cavite Expressway. The project timeline is from December 2013 to August 2015. In its latest presentation, Meralco said it has 197 affected facilities within Phase 2A; 175 have already been relocated.
“For phase 2A segment, we expect to complete our clearing works by end of August or even earlier,” Aperocho said.
For the other Phase, Meralco has relocated 298 of its facilities out of the total 340.
“For Phase 2B, we expect to complete all clearing works by end of September. But we will also exert best effort to complete them earlier than that,” the Meralco official said.
Meralco has signed an agreement with the Department of Public Works and Highways for the relocation of Meralco’s affected facilities, including the payment arrangement for the cost of relocation.
The total number of Meralco facilities affected by the implementation of both phases is 340 of which 298 were already relocated.
The total design cost of both Phase2A and 2B shall not exceed P303 million. For Phase2A, the design will cost P112,290,372. This will be shouldered by the DPWH.
“Our legal and commercial team is discussing the payment issue with the DPWH. For now, our focus is to clear out affected line as soon as possible despite space and time constraints,” added the Meralco official.