MANILA, Philippines — MPT South Management Corp., a unit of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), is targeting to acquire this year all of the remaining right-of-way (ROW) needed to finish the construction of the entire 44.57-kilometer (km) Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax).
Raul Ignacio, president of MPT South, told reporters last week they wanted to secure the balance of ROW soon to complete the construction of the tollway by the third quarter of next year.
“We’re still working on the right of way but it is progressing,” he said.
The ROW of Calax subsection 1 is now more than 76 percent complete while subsection 2 is at 71-percent mark.
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Subsection 1 covers the Kawit and Open Canal interchanges while subsection 2 links Open Canal to Governor’s Drive.
“Subsection 3 is practically 100 percent already,” he added. This segment connects Governor’s Drive and Silang (Aguinaldo) interchanges.
Calax is a toll road connecting Cavitex and South Luzon Expressway.
The Laguna segment of Calax is fully operational. The Pangilinan-led company aims to open the Governor’s Drive interchange in General Trias this year.
MPT South earmarked P11.95 billion worth of capital expenditures to complete the entire stretch of Calax and the 7.7-km Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) C-5 Link by 2025.
Cavitex C-5 Link links motorists from Makati and Taguig to Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Cavite.
The operational segments of the Cavitex C5 Link road are Segment 3A-1 (C5 Link Flyover from C5 Road to Merville) and Segment 3A-2 (C5 Link Flyover Extension). Segment 3B—the tollway linking Cavitex in Paranaque in the west and C5 Road Taguig in the east—is under construction.
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The Pangilinan-led company also inked last year a memorandum of agreement with San Miguel Corp. to design, build, and operate the 88-km Cavite-Batangas Expressway and Nasugbu-Bauan Expressway.
The toll roads will traverse Silang, Amadeo, Tagaytay, Indang, Mendez and Alfonso in Cavite and will link motorists to Nasugbu and Bauan, Batangas.
MPTC’s portfolio also includes the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), NLEx Connector, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, and Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway.