SMC unit to start charging users of TPLEX Jan 18

MANILA, Philippines - The Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) has given diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) the green light to collect fees in the Tarlac City to Paniqui stretch of the P24-billion Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) starting Jan. 18.

Edmund Reyes Jr., TRB executive director, said in a Notice of Toll Rate Implementation that the implementation of the pre-accepted toll rates for the La Paz to Paniqui segment of the 88.85 kilometer toll road was based on the Toll Concession Agreement between SMC’s Private Infra Development Corp. (PIDC) and the Department of Public Works and Highways as well as TRB.

“In accordance with the Toll Concession Agreement by and among the DPWH, the TRB, and PIDC, the following toll rates for Segment 3, Section 1 (Gerona to Paniqui), inclusive of value added tax, are hereby approved for implementation starting Jan. 18,” Reyes stated in the notice.

Under the approved rates, class 1 users including cars and jeepneys entering La Paz would be charged P30 until Victoria, P58 until Gerona, and P79 until Paniqui while class 2 vehicles including buses and trucks would have to shell out P76 until Victoria, P145 until Gerona, and P197 until Paniqui.

On the other hand, class 3 vehicles or trucks with more than two axles would be charged P91 until Victoria, P175 until Gerona, and P237 until Paniqui.

Reyes said users could file a petition for review within 90 days from the publication of the first notice of toll rate implementation.

President Aquino formally opened the Panique exit of TPLEX via an inaugural drive-through last Dec. 23 bringing to 23 kilometers the total length of the TPLEX that is operational.

In October, PIDC opened the project’s 17-kilometer Phase 1A from Tarlac City to Victoria, Pura, then Gerona, for free, to the public.

Currently, work is ongoing on the 27-kilometer stretch from Paniqui to Moncada in Tarlac, then Carmen in Pangasinan, including the construction of the 950-meter Agno viaduct that is slated for completion by December next year.

SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang earlier said PIDC expects to fully complete the toll road by 2015 or three years ahead of schedule.

“In terms of construction, we are ahead of schedule. We are on track to delivering the entire length of TPLEX as early as 2015,” Ang said.

The two-hour travel time from Tarlac to Carmen will be cut to only thirty minutes. Once completed, it will cut travel time from Tarlac to La Union to only one hour.