Government steps in on connector road issue

MANILA, Philippines - The government has decided to step in after the proponents of the ambitious North Luzon expressway and South Luzon expressway connector roads failed to come up with a unified proposal on the common area.

In an interview with reporters, Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya said the government is set to decide on the scheme that would cover the common area of the proposed connector roads to be constructed by the unit of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and First Pacific’s Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC).

The government has given SMC’s Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp. and MPIC until Dec. 15 come up with a unified proposal on the common area.

 “They just couldn’t agree so the government will come in and decide for the group. They will follow what the government will decide,” Abaya stressed.

Under the proposal of Citra, the company would initially fund the cost of the construction of the common area using a consensual contractor. Once the road connects, the other proponent would have to pay half of the total cost.

Under the proposal, the proponents of both connector roads would initially split 50-50 of the total revenues but on the third year once the traffic have stabilized the share of the revenues would depend on the traffic.

The other proposal of MPIC calls for a 50-50 share in the total cost of construction of the common area as well as a 50-50 split in revenues regardless of traffic volume.

 “Before Christmas there will be a decision on the issue. We will make sure that the connection on the common alignment will not be prejudicial to anybody,” Abaya clarified.

He pointed out that the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) wants the construction of the connector roads to start early next year so that these infrastructure would be completed in time for the Leaders Meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) which the Philippines would be hosting in 2015.

Both MPTC and Citra should have a common area spanning five kilometers from Quirino in Manila up to Nagtahan in Sta. Mesa in Manila crossing the Pasig River.

President Aquino decided to let both MPTC and SMC to build their own connector roads to be completed by 2015.

The road projects would connect Makati City where the SLEX ends to Caloocan and Balintawak where NLEX starts. The project cost is placed at P45 billion.

Linking NLEx and SLEx has been in the pipeline since 2010, when MPTC submitted an unsolicited proposal to build a 13.4-kilometer, four-lane elevated road connecting the two over the railway from Makati to Caloocan.

Citra and MPTC met several times to resolve the issue pertaining to the Buendia to Sta. Mesa Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) segment of Citra’s Skyway Stage 3 to which the MPTC’s Connector Road would connect.