THE chief of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) expects to get approval of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) for the P22.43-billion Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway (CTBEx) within this quarter.
Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar said that while he does not want to preempt the Neda Board, he is optimistic that the unsolicited proposal will see the light of day on or before the end of September.
“What remains is the Neda approval and we expect that sometime in the third quarter,” he said.
Once it gets the green light from the Neda Board, the project will then undergo the Swiss challenge.
“We’re hoping that we can do that by the end of the year—I am confident that we can do that by the end of the year,” Villar said.
CTBEx, a proposed 50-kilometer (km) expressway, will connect Cavite and Batangas, with a spur road to Tagaytay City and ultimately terminating in Nasugbu, with another spur road to Tuy, Batangas.
Metro Pacific Tollways South Corp. (MPT South) is the main proponent for this project.
The project will substantially improve access to Tagaytay City and Nasugbu, thereby ensuring faster travel and support for the government’s tourism thrust. Once completed, travel time will be reduced to less than an hour from the current 2.5 hours.
CTBEx will start at the Silang East Interchange of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway. The alignment shall traverse the towns of Silang, Amadeo, Mendez and Alfonso in Cavite; Tagaytay City; and Nasugbu in Batangas.
Expected to handle an initial 60,000 vehicles per day, the proposed expressway will have eight major interchanges, two spur roads and a number of overpasses.
It is divided into three phases: Section 1, a 17.4-km road from Silang, Cavite, to Tagaytay; Section 2, a 9.86-km road from Tagaytay to Alfonso; and Section 3, a 22.2-km road from Alfonso to Nasugbu.
The whole expressway will take about three years to complete, but the company can open the first section in one-and-a-half years.
Metro Pacific is the largest tollways operator in the Philippines. It also has interests in expressways in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.