Road projects ready before APEC meet

The Aquino administration’s first two tollroad public-private partnership (PPP) projects in Metro Manila are set to open ahead of a key Asia Pacific

Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in November despite delays, according to officials of implementing agency Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The PPP projects are the 4-kilometer Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway (formerly Daang-Hari SLEx Link Road) won by Ayala Corp. in 2011 and the 7.75-km Naia expressway project, which was bagged by San Miguel Corp. in 2013.

Due to certain delays in the delivery of the so-called right-of-way, MCX is expected to open around May this year instead of the first quarter of the year, DWPH and Ayala officials said. Naia Expressway, which was originally expected to be completed toward the end of the first quarter of 2015, would now be finished before October, DPWH Undersecretary Rafael Yabut said.

“There were some issues like the right-of-way,” Yabut said in an interview. “But this is still timely because completion is before the Apec.”

He was referring to the Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting this coming November, when the country’s capital is expected to host thousands of delegates from all over the region.

Completing the two tollroads, relatively smaller projects compared to other deals in the PPP pipeline, was a good way to showcase improving infrastructure in the country, Yabut noted.

The MCX, the very first Aquino administration PPP deal, costs P2 billion to develop and aims to link the junction of Daang Reyna and Daang Hari in Las Piñas/Bacoor, Cavite to the South Luzon Expressway through the Susana Heights Interchange in Muntinlupa, information from the PPP Center showed.

The P15.52-billion Naia Expressway, meanwhile, aims to address worsening road congestion around Metro Manila’s main air gateway, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. It involves the construction of an elevated expressway that will provide access to the three Naia terminals via a link to the Skyway tollroad, which SMC also operates with the Citra Group, its Indonesian partner. –Miguel R. Camus