STAR Tollway rate hike: A deal’s a deal. Or is it?

A deal’s a deal. Or is it?

EVERYONE who has ever driven to Batangas from Metro Manila knows how important the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) is for motorists to reach the south of Luzon in the shortest possible time and the smoothest drive.

In fact, by 2010, vehicular traffic volume on the STAR tollway—built originally as a two-lane highway—was beginning to cause congestion, so much so that the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) soon asked the highway’s operator, Star Infrastructure Development Corp. (SIDC), to build additional lanes to widen the roadway.

TRB also wanted a fresh layer of asphalt applied on the highway as well as an interconnection plaza with the adjacent South Luzon Expressway. Well and good.

A wider STAR Tollway would reduce traffic congestion, cut travel times, and make the Manila-Batangas commute even more convenient, they said.

Of course, business is business and SIDC soon replied to TRB that they were willing to add lanes on either side of the highway to expand it to a two-by-two lane tollroad, in effect, doubling its capacity. The cost of the expansion was estimated at P2.1 billion.

SIDC pointed out to TRB, however, that this cost to the firm (because the government wasn’t going to spend for it) must be recovered through a toll increase. The estimated toll hike was pegged at P1.36 a kilometer.

SIDC also sought the opinion of the Department of Public Works and Highways, which confirmed that, yes, STAR Tollway needed to be expanded and that the company could proceed on the condition that TRB should approve the proposed method for recovering its expenses (although the DPWH haggled down the price to P1.95 billion).
On May 2012, TRB, through a resolution, finally gave SIDC the green light to proceed with the project, agreeing to the costs and the P1.36/kilometer toll increase recouping mechanism.
And so SIDC worked on the expansion, which was completed in October 2014, and affirmed as completed by the inspectors of the DPWH. The total cost, including add-ons and miscellaneous expenses, reached P2.3 billion.

That same month, SIDC goes to the TRB to ask for for approval to hike the toll, as agreed. Silence, from TRB’s side (maybe they were busy). Two months later, in December, SIDC filed a petition with TRB asking for the toll increase. More silence from the road regulator (maybe they were busy with the holiday season). In February, SIDC returns to TRB to file a motion asking that its earlier petition be resolved. More silence from TRB(Valentine’s Day makes everyone busy).
By March 2015, no less than Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson wrote TRB reminding the agency of the government’s commitment to SIDC. Specifically, Singson pointed out that the firm’s inability to recover its expenses was putting it in financial danger with its creditors. Still no response from TRB. (March is graduation month, so …)

SIDC wrote TRB two more times, in May and June this year, pleading that the toll increase agreed upon three years ago be cleared for implementation. No response from TRB to these or any of the previous correspondences.

Could it be that the DPWH and SIDC had the wrong address of TRB’s office? Or the wrong e-mail address? Or the wrong mobile number of TRB director Edmund Reyes? Maybe TRB just forgot about its earlier contractual obligation? Who knows? -Daxim L. Lucas