SAN Miguel Corp. (SMC) is gearing up to implement its medium to long-term expansion program for its toll roads, its president said on Wednesday.
Ramon S. Ang, who also sits as the company’s COO, said his group has submitted to the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) its expansion plans for the South Luzon Expressway (Slex), Skyway, Naia Expressway (Naiax) and the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (Star).
“All technical studies for the expansion of all our southern Metro Manila toll roads are now complete and ready for construction,” Ang said. “We’re just waiting to get final approval for each of these projects from the Toll Regulatory Board.”
Through San Miguel Holdings Corp., the group is looking to add a fifth lane each to both the southbound and northbound lanes of Slex to Calamba exit, widening it to 10 lanes.
First phase of the project, from Alabang to Susana Heights, is estimated to cost P130 million and can be completed in just one year. The project involves extending the width of the expressway toward its perimeter fence.
The remaining section all the way to Calamba can be completed by 2021, if the government approves it at the soonest possible time, Ang added.
The company has already started bidding out the construction of the project to contractors. For Skyway, Ang said his group plans to widen the elevated expressway from Alabang to Sucat by two lanes and extend it to the Alabang viaduct.
This will bring the total number of elevated lanes to six—three lanes each way—with provision for a seventh lane. This project can be completed in three years, he added.
The company also submitted engineering plans and completed detailed design to extend the new Naiax all the way to Bonifacio Global City (BGC).
Ang said this is seen to ease traffic on the Sales Bridge and lessen travel time from the Coastal Road, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminals 1, 2 and 3, and SM Mall of Asia areas to BGC to just 10 minutes.
The project is seen to decongest Magallanes and the Edsa-Pasay area.
Also included is the additional Naiax ramps extension from the Naia Terminal 1 and 2 areas all the way to SM Sucat, where it can link up with the C5 extension.
This will benefit motorists heading to Sucat, Las Pinas and C5 who usually spend anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour just getting out of gridlock along airport roads.
Ang said his company is also looking to implement plans to build a down ramp from the northbound elevated Skyway toward C5/BGC.
The project, which involves the construction of a one-lane ramp, will take one and a half years to complete.
“The expansion of these major expressways is long overdue. But we’ve done our homework, we’ve invested to complete the studies and designs, and we’ve submitted all of these to the Toll Regulatory Board for their review. All these projects can be completed within three years, provided the government gives us the green light to proceed right away,” Ang said.
He added that his group hopes to receive the green light from the toll regulator soon to hasten the implementation of these expansion plans.
“All these projects are ready for implementation. These are all just improvements/extensions of existing expressways, so we are hoping that the TRB can review and act on our submissions at the soonest possible time,” Ang said. He added his group is pursuing these projects because of the increase in traffic congestion in Metro Manila.
“There is no stopping the Philippines’s growth. With this, more people will be traveling, more goods will be transported, so we expect that traffic volume will just get worse,” Ang said.
He added: “We’re committed to finishing these on schedule, and we are confident that these projects will greatly improve the traffic situation in Metro Manila, which our countrymen have had to endure for many, many years.”
1 comment
The only conglomerate who is not interested in condos and malls but investing in the country’s much needed infrastructure.Keep it up Sir.