No plans to delay award of NLEX-SLEX road – DOF

MANILA, Philippines – There is no intention to delay or stop the awarding of a contract that will connect Luzon’s two main expressways, the Department of Finance (DOF) said yesterday.

This was despite its proposal to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to put the P23.2-billion North and South Luzon Expressway (NLEX-SLEX) connector road project under a separate special purpose company.

“My understanding is that they can award it if they wish,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez told reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s budget briefing at the Senate.

“They can do it if they see it fit,” he said.

The project, included under the public-private partnership pipeline, was proposed by Panglinan-led Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. (MPTDC) and was supposed to be completed by next year.

The company won the contract after no bids were made on a Swiss challenge DPWH organized last month.

Dominguez, however, said it would be better to put up a separate firm to manage the tollway which would run from C-3 or Fifth Avenue in Caloocan City to the Stage 3 of Metro Manila Skyway Project.

“It’s more convenient for us so that if anything goes wrong, it can be very easy to identify the assets involved, right?” the Finance chief said.

He said the DOF would not recall its opinion, which DPWH said was received just “recently.”

“It will have to be taken into consideration as part of due process,” DPWH media relations office said.

“Right now, we are busy with budget deliberations and we have not really studied it yet,” DPWH said

That could mean additional time before the connector road could be awarded and the contract signed, which based on original schedule, should be by November.

Earlier, MPTDC said it hopes to start construction by 2018. The project was first proposed in 2010.