Angeles City Council pushes for interchange to link city to SCTEX

ANGELES CITY — Amid the rush to finish the P21-billion Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) project, the Sangguniang Panglungsod (SP) here has issued a unanimous resolution vowing "to explore every means to stop the project" unless an interchange linking this city to the tollway is constructed.

"The city government strongly believes that this project will contribute immensely to the advancement of trade and tourism industry in the city," the resolution read. "In case of failure of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to establish an interchange in the city, the city government shall be compelled to explore every means possible to stop the on-going construction of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway."

In an interview with The STAR, BCDA vice president for operations Rex Chan admitted that the planned interchange at the Friendship highway here was scrapped due to shortage of funds. Three other similar proposed interchanges in Porac and Floridablanca in Pampanga and Bamban in Tarlac were also scrapped.

Chan explained that when the SCTEX was first proposed in 2000, its estimated cost was only P16 billion. However, inflation and other factors have caught up with the project and the cost has ballooned to P21 billion. Clearly, the fund is no longer sufficient to construct interchanges that local officials want.

He said though that the Angeles and Porac interchanges have not been totally abandoned as the project could still push through if the government could get additional funding.

"We had thought of an alternative though," he said. "The interchange could be constructed near Clark’s fence in Barangay Sapang Bato in Angeles, but this would require a bridge across the Abancan River."