Roxas: TRB has final say on NLEX-SLEX road connector project

MANILA, Philippines - Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II said the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) will make the final decision on the competing offers of Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. (MPTDC) and the Citra-San Miguel Corp. (SMC) consortium for the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) elevated road connection project.

Roxas said the TRB will make the decision “in conjunction with the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways)”.

“Lahat yan, kasama ang DPWH (In all the decisions to be made, DPWH will take part),” Roxas told reporters in a weekly press conference at the DOTC head office at the Columbia Tower in Mandaluyong City yesterday afternoon.

Roxas said the role of DOTC and its attached agency, TRB, in the NLEX-SLEX connection project will be administrative in nature which will include striking of a legal concession agreement.

“To clear this up, these two competing projects are really being assessed by the DPWH,” Roxas said.

Media reports earlier suggested that there was a brewing turf war between the DOTC and DPWH on the said project with DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson pushing for Metro Pacific’s NLEX-SLEX Connector proposal while the TRB was recognizing Citra’s claim that its Skyway concession covered the connection of its Skyway currently ending at Buendia to the NLEX via a Skyway Stage 3.

 Both Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. (MPTDC) and Citra-SMC are claiming superiorty over each other’s competing proposal.

MPTDC is the holding company of the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MPTC), builder and concessionaire of the 94- kilometer NLEX. MPTDC is a subsidiary of listed Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), the toll unit of the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) controlled by tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan.

MNTC also currently operates and maintains the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway under an interim operations and management agreement with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

MPTDC’s Connector road project proposal is competing with the Skyway plan of Indonesian firm Citra which recently formed a partnership with local diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC).

Citra and SMC have formed a joint venture named Atlantic Aurum, Inc., with Citra holding a 54-percent stake and SMC 46 percent. The joint venture has secured control over the Metro Manila Skyway, the SLEX, and the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR).

MPTDC’s Bautista stressed that their project will benefit from MNTC’s experience in working together with government to fast track right-of-way acquisition as seen in NLEX Phase 1 and in the NLEX- Mindanao Avenue Link.