NLEX resumes maintenance program

Manila, Philippines -  The Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), builder and concessionaire of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), resumes its heavy maintenance program with a P370-million budget allocated for 2012.

Rodrigo E. Franco, MNTC president, pointed out that the maintenance program is undertaken at regular intervals in order to maintain NLEX’s all-season road quality. The last massive maintenance effort was done in December last year.

The major maintenance works begin this July and will be completed in December this year. This multi-million pesos maintenance project involves asphalt overlay from Balintawak to Marilao for the northbound lanes, and Valenzuela to Meycauayan, Bocaue to Burol, Sta. Rita and Candaba Viaduct – San Simon for southbound lanes.

MNTC had completed the P171-million maintenance for the 58-lane kilometers of the expressway from Balintawak (NLEX Segment 1) to Burol last year. It targets to cover the next 112 lane kilometers of NLEX this year.

MNTC said that the total scope of the program is more than 565 lane kilometers and the entire stretch of NLEX is expected to be fully repaved with asphalt by 2016, according to Ramon Fernandez, president of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC). MNTC is a subsidiary of MPTC.

NLEX travelers have been assured “not to worry about traffic build-up due to maintenance works.” MNTC is implementing a time-tested traffic management plan through its operator, the Tollways Management Corp. (TMC).

TMC manages the traffic in NLEX including the merging and diverging of traffic at identified locations and closure of only two lanes at any given time.

Maintenance works will be undertaken from Mondays to Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and may extend until 7 p.m.

“Our policy in NLEX is to ensure the seamless travel we offer to its users through a high-quality expressway. We don’t wait until serious damage takes place.

That is why we regularly inspect our roads and do the necessary repairs and maintenance,” said Franco.