MNTC all set to link C5, NLEx in P7B infra work

A new road linking North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) to Circumferential Road 5, or C5, will soon be built for the benefit of thousands of Metro Manila motorists, Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) announced this week.

The new road, dubbed segment 8.2 under the company’s concession, is part of the ongoing expansion of NLEx, the country’s oldest toll road. The road will extend from the newly opened Mindanao Avenue cloverleaf to Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City.

Work on the new road will likely start next year once the acquisition of land by the government to provide right of way for the new road is completed.

“We found that it’s easier for us to work on projects already in our concession than on new ones,” MNTC president Rodrigo Franco said in an interview. “The potential of that road for us is huge because we will be able to siphon the traffic coming from C5,” one of Metro Manila’s major thoroughfares.

He added that the company would still have to conduct a detailed study for the project. But the road is estimated to cost P7 billion, with construction expected to be completed by 2013.

Franco said the company would focus on potential projects under its NLEx concession deal with the government.

This includes the so-called Harbor Link Road—Segments 9 and 10 under its contract—that will link NLEx to the port area in Manila’s Tondo district.

Work on Segment 9 is expected to begin by the third quarter of 2012.

The company of Manuel V. Pangilinan is also set to open a new interchange in Balagtas, Bulacan, which will ease traffic at the National Road connected to the NLEx Sta. Rita exit.

“The Balagtas exit will be connected to the new Plaridel bypass road built by the DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways],” Franco said.

The company said it would spend P100 million for the new interchange.

According to Franco, the MNTC finds it more sensible to work on portions of NLEx that are already part of the company’s concession than to wait for the firm’s other projects, several of which are still pending with government regulators, to push through.

MNTC’s parent firm, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., currently has a standing proposal to build a P17-billion overhead toll road that will connect NLEx to the Metro Manila Skyway in Makati.

The proposal is currently being reviewed by the Department of Transportation and Communications to determine the possibility of integrating a high-speed train line in the project.

The rail line that will connect Metro Manila to Clark Freeport in Pampanga is key to the planned development of the former US military base into the country’s premiere international air gateway, replacing Ninoy Aquino International Airport.