SMC ready to roll out expansion of SLEX, Skyway, NAIAex

November 1, 2017

San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is set to roll out its medium to long-term expansion program that will increase capacity of its southern Metro Manila toll roads to help government in its effort to ease traffic congestion in the metropolis.

SMC’s infrastructure arm is ready to implement expansion plans for the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), Skyway system, NAIA Expressway (NAIAX) and the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (SLEX) and is just waiting for the go-signal from government, a statement from the company said Wednesday.

“All technical studies for the expansion of all our southern Metro Manila toll roads are now complete and ready for construction. We’re just waiting to get final approval for each of these projects from the Toll Regulatory Board,” SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang, said.

Ang said the massive expansion can be completed by infra unit San Miguel Holdings Corp. in three years.

These projects are expected to decongest not just traditional chokepoints along the expressway network--such as the Alabang viaduct, the Sucat and Bicutan interchanges, Magallanes, the C5 entrance and exit to SLEX, and the NAIAx entry to Skyway—but more importantly, traffic on public roads leading to these major entry and exit points.

“There is no stopping the Philippines’ growth. With this, more people will be travelling, more goods will be transported, so we expect that traffic volume will just get worse,” Ang said.

“The expansion of these major expressways is long overdue. But we’ve done our homework, we’ve invested to complete the studies and designs, and we’ve submitted all of these to the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) for their review. All these projects can be completed within three years, provided government gives us the green light to proceed right away,” Ang added.

SMC is looking to add a fifth lane each to both the southbound and northbound lanes of SLEX to Calamba exit, effectively widening it to ten lanes.

First phase of the project, from Alabang to Susana Heights, is estimated to cost P130 million and can be completed in just one year. The project involves extending the width of the expressway towards its perimeter fence.

The remaining section all the way to Calamba can be completed by 2021, if government approves it at the soonest possible time.

The company said that it has started bidding out construction of the project to contractors. DMS