San Miguel drops PAREx project

|PHOTO: San Miguel Corp website

MANILA, Philippines  — Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has dropped its plan to build the P81.53-billion Pasig River Expressway (PAREx) amid concerns raised by civil society about its likely harmful impact on the environment.

Ramon Ang, SMC chief, said on Monday in Manila they were no longer pursuing the toll road project after hearing out public opinion.

“We are very sensitive [to] the opinion of the public. If the public think that it is not good [for] the public welfare, we will not do it anymore,” he said.

The 19.37-kilometer PAREx project is a six-lane, elevated toll road passing through the Pasig River from Radial Road 10 in Manila and proposed South East Metro Manila Expressway at Circumferential Road 6.

Opposition to the project

In 2021, scientist group Advocates of Science and Technology for the People said the proposed elevated expressway would cause damage to the river as it would block the natural sunlight and “affect the remaining food chain of Pasig River.”

READ: Scientists join opposition against Pasig River Expressway project

Private sector-led #NoToParex campaign, meanwhile, claimed in 2022 that some parts of the environmental impact statement prepared for the infrastructure project appeared to have been plagiarized from other documents, casting doubt as to whether a proper assessment had been conducted in the first place.

Prior to aborting the plan, the Toll Regulatory Board reported last year it was undergoing preparation for detailed engineering design, which refers to crafting of blueprint and cost estimates, among others.

READ: BIZ BUZZ: TRB counters anti-PAREx disinformation

But SMC, for its part, has other toll road projects on its plate. It is working on the 88-kilometer Cavite-Batangas Expressway and Nasugbu-Bauan Expressway with Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC).

Projects in SMC pipeline

The toll roads will traverse Silang, Amadeo, Tagaytay, Indang, Mendez and Alfonso in Cavite and will link motorists to Nasugbu and Bauan in Batangas.

READ: Rivals to allies: Ramon Ang to invest in MVP-led Metro Pacific

SMC and MPIC, following this, have set sights on establishing joint venture for a mega tollway company.

Other projects in the pipeline are Northern Access Link Expressway (NALEx) and Southern Access Link Expressway and Manila Toll Expressway Systems Inc.’s South Luzon Expressway Toll Road 5.

The P148.30-billion NALEx is the first component of the Greater Capital Region Integrated Expressways Network. INQ