Toll road agreement for Pasig River Expressway due for signing

SAN MIGUEL Holdings Corp. and its partner Philippine National Construction Corp. are set to sign a supplemental toll operations agreement with the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) today, Sept. 21, for the 9.37-kilometer Pasig River Expressway (PAREX).

The Department of Transportation announced the signing in an advisory. The agreement will be concluded more than a year after the TRB declared the P95.40-billion elevated expressway project a toll road.

The road is intended as a direct link between western and eastern Metro Manila.

PAREX is a six-lane, all elevated expressway traversing the river, which runs from Rizal to Manila Bay. “The project starts from Radial Road 10 (R-10) in the City of Manila and shall terminate at a connection to the South East Metro Manila Expressway at Circumferential Road 6. The Project will connect and utilize a 2.7-kilometer portion of Skyway Stage 3 from Nagtahan to Plaza Azul,” the Department of Public Works and Highways said on its website.

The expressway is expected to aid in decongesting R-10, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, and Circumferential Road 5 by providing connectivity among toll roads and freeways of the capital.

In January, San Miguel Corp. President Ramon S. Ang said in a statement that the project “can be completed by 2023.”

Former TRB Executive Director Abraham P. Sales said in August last year that the construction of the project was being targeted to start within the remaining two years of the government’s term. —