MPIC awaits notice to proceed for NLEX-SLEX connector road

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. ( MPIC) is willing to wait for the go-signal to start the North Luzon Expressway - South Luzon Expressway (NLEX-SLEX) connector road project but laments further delay in awarding the contract means also a lag in solving the Metro Manila traffic frenzy, MPIC chairman Manuel Pangilinan said.

MPIC subsidiary Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. (MPTDC) is awaiting for the notice to proceed (NTP) from the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH), which Secretary Mark Villar said is still being reviewed.

“There was a Swiss challenge. We’re just working out the details. There were no other bidders… We’re just finishing some details before we can issue a timeline,” Villar said in an interview with reporters after the Financial Times-First Metro Philippines Investment Summit in Makati City Tuesday.

When asked if the awarding could take place within the month, the DPWH head said he does not “want to commit to a specific date” as the agency completes its due diligence on the project.

During the same event, Villar said he sees Metro Manila’s traffic nightmare as a problem that can be solved in two to three years.

Reviewing the NLEX-SLEX connector road is the prerogative of the DPWH Secretary but may have an impact in solving the capital’s traffic woes, Pangilinan said in the same event.

“That’s his prerogative. Every day though that is delayed is a delay, which compounds to the traffic problem, but it’s up to him. It’s not up to us. We’ve done our part, we’ve subjected ourselves to the Swiss challenge,” he said.

He said MPTDC has gone through the process of Swiss challenge and waited five years for clearance to build the connector road aimed to decongest Metro Manila traffic by providing trucks an alternative route going to and from Manila ports.

“As a technical matter, we have won that project, the connector as such…but we’re waiting for formal award from DPWH, in respect of the Swiss challenge,” he said.

It was in April 2010 when MPTDC submitted an unsolicited proposal for a connector road to government, based on data from the DPWH website.

Last July 24, the agency did not receive any comparative proposals. Public Works assistant secretary Eugenio Pipo Jr. then said a resolution of award will be prepared, recommending MPTDC as the project proponent of the NLEX-SLEX connector road.

“As soon as that given, we can start work on it,” Pangilinan said.

The connector road project involves an elevated four-lane, eight-kilometer tolled expressway starting at NLEX Segment 10 at C- 3 or Fifth Avenue, Caloocan City and connecting to the SLEX, through Stage 3 of the Metro Manila Skyway System Project in Manila.