Business World, 19 December 2013

By Lorenz Cristoffer S. Marasigan

 

AYALA CORP. and South Luzon Tollway Corp. (SLTC) have reached an agreement that removes a key hurdle to the construction of a road linking Daang Hari and South Luzon Expressway (SLEx), a government official in charge of public-private partnership (PPP) projects said yesterday.

  “Last week, the memorandum of agreement was finally signed by the operator of SLEx and Ayala Corp. and the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) for the interconnection of the four-kilometer Daang Hari to SLEx,” PPP Center Executive Director Cosette V. Canilao told reporters in a briefing in Quezon City yesterday.

Construction at the P1.96-billion, 30-year, build-transfer-operate PPP project, which was awarded to Ayala in December 2011, was 32% complete as of last Nov. 25, according to the Web site of the PPP Center. The project involves construction of a new four-kilometer, four-lane toll road from the junction of Daang Reyna and Daang Hari at the boundary of Las Piñas City and Bacoor, Cavite to SLEx through Susana Heights Interchange in Muntinlupa City, traversing the New Bilibid Prison Reservation.

Citing increasing traffic, SLEx operator SLTC, tollway arm of San Miguel Corp., plans to add two lanes to the four-lane thoroughfare — a plan, Ms. Canilao explained, that necessitated a tweak in the design of Ayala’s Daang Hari-SLEx link project.

“Under the agreement on the design is the traffic management plan, as SLEx’s operations should not be interrupted by the construction of the connection,” she explained.

Earlier this month, Ayala Managing Director Eric T. Francia said signing of the agreement would pave the way for construction of the project to “go full blast.”

The project was originally targeted to be completed by June next year, but Ms. Canilao said yesterday that with the recent signing of the contract “the private proponent is now saying it could finish the project by September or October 2014.”