SMC to begin constructing 7-km expressway linking NAIA terminals to casino

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda. DZIQ FILE  PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Corp. will begin constructing within June, a 7.15-kilometer expressway project that would link Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s three terminals with a casino complex, hopefully, by 2015, according to Malacañang.

The Philippines is hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila and key cities in 2015.

The SMC recently turned over the P11 billion it offered upfront to win the bid to build and operate the P15.52-billion NAIA Expressway Phase II project, paving the way for the start of the construction, President Aquino’s spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

SMC developer SMC Vertex Tollways Development Inc. would undertake the construction, the presidential spokesperson said.

“Secretary Babes Singson informed me today that the SMC Vertex Tollways Development Inc. …gave the P11-billion payment to DPWH,’’ he said in a briefing. “According to them, sometime in June they can start already.’’

In the bidding, SMC’s P11 billion won over Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s offer of P305 million. The cash is on top of the construction cost of the public private partnership project.

The project entails the construction, operation and maintenance of a 4-lane, 7.75-km elevated expressway, and a 2.22-km feeder road from Skyway.

This will make NAIA terminals 1, 2 and 3 accessible, and link expressways with one another. It will feature entry and exit ramps on Roxas Boulevard and Macapagal Boulevard, and in the Entertainment City of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

The road project was requested by business groups with big-ticket casino and entertainment projects in the Entertainment City.

Phase II-A of the project, which would link NAIA terminals with the Entertainment City through an elevated tollway structure, would be completed in time for the Apec forum in 2015.

“That will be completed before Apec,’’ Lacierda said.

Key cities will be hosting 21 senior officials’ meetings and ministerial meetings throughout 2015, culminating in the Apec Leaders’ Summit around October or November.

Phase II-b would connect the Skyway with existing tollways, Lacierda said.

Lacierda said that traffic rerouting schemes would be carried out in view of the forthcoming construction of the expressway.

“That will be part of the planning as the construction of this expressway is going to be done. That’s part of the plan. The President has always emphasized that we should try to minimize or mitigate the inconvenience to our motorists,” he said.