NLEx Connector’s España Section to be finished by Q1 2022

Rotated pierhead at NLEx Connector. Photo from NLEX Corp.

MANILA, Philippines — Toll road operator NLEx Corp. expects to finish a major portion of its NLEx Connector road project by the first quarter of 2022.

In a statement on Wednesday, the company said this was the first five-kilometer section of the 8-km NLEx Connector.

This will be the second elevated toll road in Metro Manila linking the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and South Luzon Expressway after San Miguel Corp.’s Skyway 3.

The 5-km section from Caloocan Interchange to España Boulevard is around 45 percent complete, NLEx Corp. president and general manager J. Luigi Bautista said in the statement.

He added the progress at the toll road was aided by the delivery of right-of-way by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

“We are targeting to deliver the full right-of-way for this section by next month so we can further accelerate the project,” Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said in the same statement.

The NLEx Connector, which is being built above the Philippine National Railways (PNR) tracks, will eventually run all the way to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

The construction of the next three-km segment will start within this year, NLEx Corp. said.

Once completed, the NLEx Connector will have four toll plazas and interchanges in C3 and España.

It is expected to serve 35,000 motorists daily and provide better access to Manila Ports, allowing the faster transport of goods and services between Metro Manila and Luzon provinces.

NLEx Corp. is a subsidiary of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the toll road arm of the Metro Pacific Investments Corp.