Coming soon: two less Skyway bottlenecks

The motorists spoke and Ramon Ang listened.

We’re talking about the vehicular traffic chokepoints at two key portions of the elevated Skyway toll road that tend to clog up during rush hour.

Biz Buzz learned that the president and CEO of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. has ordered the implementation of improvements on these bottlenecks to shorten travel time during periods of heavy congestion.

The first is the northbound Quezon Ave. exit of Skyway Stage 3, which tends to slow to a crawl during the late afternoon and early evening commute as many motorists head home. This is because the off-ramp is located just a couple of hundred meters before the Araneta Ave.-Quezon Ave. intersection. Because of this, the exit queue on the Skyway can sometimes extend to 300 meters.

Well, worry no more. Ang has approved the construction of another exit ramp that will bypass this heavily used crossing and allow motorists to return to ground level near the Maria Clara St. junction of Araneta Ave. Doing so will allow motorists who are heading past Quezon Ave. — which account for a significant number of drivers on any given day—to bypass the problematic intersection.

The second improvement will be made on the southbound section of the Skyway that has been a bane to motorists since long before San Miguel took over the concession. This is the Sales Road interchange where motorists ascending the Magallanes on-ramp intersect with vehicles exiting into the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Expressway, all within 200 meters, resulting in major traffic buildups during rush hour.

Ang ordered the addition of one more lane from Magallanes to NaiaEx to address heavy vehicular flow, as well as the addition of two lanes to allow motorists to ascend to Skyway level from the South Luzon Expressway in the C-5 area. This will allow southbound motorists to enter the Skyway after the heavily used Magallanes area.

Of course, these improvements will cost San Miguel money, but it’s a small price for the conglomerate to pay to improve the experience of motorists, Ang says.

—Daxim L. Lucas

Exporting The Farm’s DNA

Eager to build on the success of The Farm at San Benito abroad, CG Hospitality, the hospitality wing of Nepal-based conglomerate CG Corp Global of the Chaudhary family, has included some of its key elements in the conception and now the execution of the Miraaya Wellness & Golf Retreat concept.

CG Hospitality says Miraaya is Nepal’s first boutique golf retreat destination for holistic wellness and spiritual enrichment.

“Located at Devchuli Nepal, Miraaya is the first of its kind in South Asia and the Indian subcontinent promising to offer an uber-luxury experience ranging from wellness treatments to wellness cuisine and mindfulness, marking a new era for hospitality in the country,” said the group behind such revered hospitality brands as Taj, Taj Safaris, Vivanta, Jetwing, Radisson, Ekho, Fairmont and its own highly reputed brands namely The Zinc, The Fern, Summit and The Farm at San Benito.

Hallmarks of The Farm can be easily found at the Miraaya, such as the wellness restaurants but using the ingredients that are abundant in Nepal, all locally sourced and organically grown, and the offerings of the flagship Miraaya Spa, which is being positioned to be the main place to go to for traditional Nepali massage and beauty rituals using the healing properties of local medicinal plants and herbs, the first in Nepal to do so at high standards.

Then there are the complementary mindfulness activities such as yoga, meditation and sound healing programs that are all inspired by The Farm.

And to top it all off, in 2023, Miraaya will begin its medically supervised programs designed by The Farm at San Benito, including holistic detox, beauty and longevity, pain management, weight management, and yoga and raw food retreat.

Talk about combining the best of both worlds.

— Tina Arceo-Dumlao