MPIC connector road project faces design changes
The Metro Manila connector tollroad project of Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. may undergo design revisions, given the government’s plan to purse a massive railway development project that overlaps with parts of the elevated expressway.
The 8-kilometer connector road, which has suffered long delays, is expected to link Metro Pacific’s North Luzon Expressway and the South Luzon Expressway of San Miguel Corp.
Metro Pacific’s expressway project was given the green light to proceed after it obtained last month the approval of the board of the National Economic and Development Authority.
But the Neda board also approved during the same meeting the 36.7-km North South Commuter Railway from Tutuban to Malolos in Bulacan and the 653-km North South Railway project-South Line (Manila to Legazpi City in Albay and branch lines).
Portions of that connector road project would make use of the existing Philippine National Railway’s right of way within the capital district, prompting the current review of the design, said Rodrigo Franco, president of MPIC unit Manila North Tollways Corp.
“We will now have to revise our design to accommodate the construction of the north-south commuter rail,” Franco told reporters last week.
Meetings between key government agencies are also expected in the coming weeks since the tollroad project is being implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways while the the railway projects are under the Department of Transportation and Communications.
“We plan to hold talks with the DOTC and Metro Pacific,” DPWH undersecretary Rafael Yabut said in an interview.
He said discussions would be set after the Holy Week ends on April 5.
“We want to see how this [connector road] aligns with the North South commuter rail,” Yabut added.
The connector road project of Metro Pacific has a listed project cost of P14.86 billion, according to the Public Private Partnership Center.
Once these design issues are resolved, the DPWH plans to open Metro Pacific’s connector road project to competitive bidding.
This project will be the second connector tollroad to serve Metro Manila after San Miguel’s Skyway Stage 3 is finished between 2016 and 2017.
