Govt set to start Metro expressway

The Department of Transportation said it will break ground today for the P45-billion Southeast Metro Manila Expressway Project  that will help decongest traffic in Metro Manila.

Southeast Metro Manila Expressway is a 34-kilometer, six-lane, combined elevated and at-grade expressway with two directional traffic flow that starts in the south with a connection to the existing Skyway Stage 1 in FTI, Taguig City and terminates at Batasan Complex in Quezon City.  It will eventually connect to the North Luzon Expressway via Balagtas, Bulacan.

The project costing about P45 billion will start construction this year. It is expected to be completed by 2020.

The project is covered by a supplemental toll operations agreement signed by the Toll Regulatory Board, Philippine National Construction Corp., Citra Intercity Tollways Corp. as the investor and Metro O&M Corp. as the operator.  Citra and Metro O&M are units of San Miguel Holdings Corp.

SEMME is a part of the Metro Manila Expressway or the Metro Manila Circumferential-6 Road  Expressway that San Miguel Corp. will build along with PNCC.

San Miguel said last year it would undertake the P554-billion expansion of toll roads under an existing joint venture with PNCC.

The expanded road network will include extension of Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 project and the Metro Manila Expressway, or C6/Skyway Stage 4. SMHC and PNCC are joint venture partners in Citra Central Expressway Corp. and Citra Intercity Tollways Inc., the concession companies of Skyway Stages 3 and 4, respectively.

PNCC, through its legislative franchise, has the authority to construct, maintain and operate the South Luzon Expressway and Skyway Stages 1, 2, 3 as well as all extensions, linkages or stretches from any part of the existing toll roads.

“Within the next year or so, we hope that work can begin on the extension of SLEx, Skyway Stage 3 and C6. We have within our agreement all the extensions that will help us create an entire seamless network of roads and expressways connecting Metro Manila to neighboring provinces. We will operate, between us, the most extensive network of Philippine tollways,” San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said earlier.

Ang said San Miguel and PNCC were ready to do their share to meet President Duterte’s call for greater private investment in order to usher in a “golden age of infrastructure.”

Robredo opposes no election plan in 2019, term extension for incumbent officials

VICE President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo is opposed to a no-midterm election scenario in May 2019 and a term extension for incumbent officials.

Robredo, in her weekly radio show Biserbisyong Leni, was reacting to a statement by Senate President Aquilino Pimentel 3rd that Congress may extend President Duterte’s term “if the President is amenable to it.”

“I am strongly against a no election scenario because elections are the bedrock of our democracy. It is the only time that the people get to choose their leaders. Elected officials are not the boss here,” Robredo said in Filipino.

“We are the voice of the people. If we don’t let the people elect their leaders, then how is that a democracy?” Robredo said.

Robredo then cited that while incumbent elected officials would tend to favor a no election and subsequently, term extension, because of the expensive cost of running a campaign, it was not an excuse to compromise the will of the electorate.

“The issue is simple. As for me, when I ran for office in May 2016, it is for a contract that I will serve as Vice President for six years. It is not to serve six years and possibly more. Having said that, incumbent officials should not benefit from proposals of term extension,” Robredo said.

“Otherwise, the intention of the incumbent officials will also be in question. The term extension will look like a self-serving move,” Robredo said.

Transport dept leads groundbreaking of Southeast Metro Manila Expressway on Jan 8

THE Department of Transportation (DOTr) will lead the groundbreaking ceremony of the Southeast Metro Manila Expressway, the first of three phases of the Metro Manila Expressway Project on Monday, January 8.

The MME 34.024-kilometer project involves the construction of a six-lane highway combined with an elevated and at-grade expressway with a two-way traffic flow starting in the south where it will connect to the existing Skyway Stage 1 in FTI, Taguig City and end at the Batasan Complex in Quezon City where it will connect to the North Luzon Expressway via Balagtas.

According to DOTr, the “SEMME Project seeks to address the need to provide an alternate route, linking the Southern and Eastern cities of Metro Manila, that will help in decongesting the traffic situation being currently experienced in these areas.”

The project by the Citra Intercity Tollways Inc. (CITI) as its concessionaire is under public-private partnership (PPP). The concession period is for 30 years from the issuance of the Toll  Operation Certificate.

Phase 1 has an estimated cost of P45 billion; Phase 2, P25-billion; and Phase 3, P20 billion. REICELENE JOY IGNACIO