METRO Pacific Tollways South Corp. (MPT South) is set to open the first section of the 7.7-kilometer C-5 Link Expressway on Tuesday, company and government officials announced on Sunday.
During the final inspection of the C-5 Link Flyover, which connects C-5 to Merville in Pasay and Sucat in Parañaque, Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar said the opening of the P1.6-billion section of the expressway will help address a number of bottlenecks in Metro Manila.
“Vehicular traffic spends about 1.5 hours just to cross from Villamor area in Pasay City to Taguig via Fort Bonifacio. On opening, this section will have three lanes on each direction and will enable about 8,000 vehicles to easily cross in half that time,” he said.
C-5 Link Flyover will serve as an alternate road for commuters traveling between Fort Bonifacio, CP Garcia (C-5), Taguig City, Parañaque City, Las Piñas City and Pasay City. It will directly cross over, from C-5, the Metro Manila Skyway and the South Luzon Expressway, to Merville and Sucat.
It aims to decongest Sales Road, the East Service Road and the West Service Road.
The whole project, a 7.7-kilometer road, is expected to decongest Sales Road in Pasay and Edsa, cutting travel time from Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Cavite to Taguig to as much short as 20 minutes.
“We are on our final touches for this segment. Ultimately, we foresee that the Cavitex-C5 Link Expressway will benefit about 50,000 vehicles daily and will afford commuters the expressway experience south of Metro Manila from our Parañaque Toll Plaza to C-5 in Taguig City,” Roberto V. Bontia, president of Cavitex Infrastructure Inc., said.
He added that the group will start the bidding process for the next segments this week.
“We intend to start construction of the next 2.1-kilometer section from Merville to Sucat, Las Piñas City by fourth quarter of this year,” he said.