MPTC to spend P10 billion for barrier-free expressway

MANILA, Philippines — Expressways operated by the Metro Pacific Group will start taking down their toll plazas in 2025 to achieve a barrier-less system by 2026, an effort that will require as much as P10 billion but could be key to resolving traffic congestion.

The Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) plans to begin its journey to a barrier-free ecosystem within the year with the hope of completing the process by 2026.

MPTC president and CEO Rogelio Singson said the target is to begin removing some toll plazas next year to start installing the gantries that will replace them.

MPTC estimates to spend between P8 billion and P10 billion for the delivery of the project. The company, however, has no hesitation in pursuing a barrier-less system, as it will accelerate traffic flow in its tollways to the benefit of motorists.

For one, MPTC expects that in barrier-free tollways, motorists will reduce their travel time by at least half. For the company, this means that lane throughput will rise by 150 percent, as travelers would experience less friction entering expressways.

However, Singson said it may take time before MPTC achieves its dream of a barrier-less system, noting that the project would require the success of RFID interoperability.

Toll road operators MPTC and San Miguel Corp. are working on making their respective RFIDs function in any expressway as mandated by the government for ease of access.

Although the government wants the RFID interoperability online by July, MPTC is asking for an extension of until October to ensure that the program is foolproof.

Afterward, MPTC will proceed to improve its back offices to prepare for the barrier-free project. Under this, the company will invest on scaling up its information technology (IT) capacity given the amount of data that will be captured in a barrierless system.

Under a barrier-free ecosystem, vehicles can enter and exit a toll road without any apprehension from a toll plaza. Upon entry into an expressway, a gantry would read their RFID account, plate number and vehicle make to process their payment and monitor their activities.

For this, Singson underscored the need to come up with an IT system that can handle the volume of applications and information from MPTC tollways across the Philippines.

MPTC operates and maintains some of the biggest toll projects in the country, namely, the North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, Manila-Cavite Expressway, Cavite-Laguna Expressway and the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway.