NLEX revives plan to extend expressway to Bataan

MANILA, Philippines — NLEX Corp., a unit of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), plans to revive its plan to extend the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) to Bataan which will require investments of at least P20 billion.

MPTC president and chief executive officer Rodrigo Franco said NLEX targets to submit to the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) within the second semester its plans for the third phase of the NLEX project.

NLEX was previously targeting to submit to the TRB its plans for the proposed 40-kilometer expressway from Sto. Tomas, Pampanga to Dinalupihan, Bataan early last year, but the plan did not push through.

“That’s part of the concession of NLEX, but that has not been built. Delayed a little bit because SCTEX was built also, but we’re studying it if it is timely to push with the construction of that project,” Franco said.

“Its will be an extension going to Dinalupihan, Bataan. That’s the alignment of Phase 3,” he said.

Franco said the project is expected to cost more than P20 billion. He said the extension would start somewhere before San Fernando after Apalit, then will cut across Guagua to Dinalupihan.

“Its time to push through with the project because that area in Pampanga, the San Fernando and Angeles area, is rich in urban streets so you may want to bypass that area already if you’re going to the Bataan area,” the MPTC official said.

“We still have to submit a proposal to TRB. We are hoping to do it by the second half,” he said.

Franco, however, said the 40-km project would still take some time before actual construction starts because right of way would have to be acquired first.

NLEX is part of the portfolio of projects of MPTC, the tollways arm of infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investment Corp.

MPTC also holds in its portfolio of projects the SCTEX, CAVITEX, and current construction projects Cavite-Laguna-Expressway, C5-South Link, connector road, and the Cebu-Cordova link expressway in Cebu.

Last February, the group inaugurated the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 and also broke ground for NLEX-SLEX connector road.

In just two weeks after its opening, NLEX said over 100,000 motorists have benefited from the 5.65 km Harbor Link Segment 10 project from both northbound and southbound directions.

The completion of the Harbor Link Segment 10, which belongs to the open system, added new routes, exits, and entry points to the system, thus, helping decongest several major traffic chokepoints like A. Bonifacio, EDSA, C3 Caloocan, Karuhatan, MacArthur Highway, and Quezon City.

Meanwhile, the P23.3 billion NLEX-SLEX connector road project is an eight-kilometer all-elevated highway along the PNR extending the NLEX southward from the end of Segment 10 in C3/5th Avenue, Caloocan City to PUP Sta. Mesa, Manila.

It is expected to decongest major thoroughfares and improve linkages between the north and south.