SMC-run expressways ready for expansion

MANILA, Philippines — Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is ready to start the expansion of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), the Skyway system, and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway (NAIAX) to help ease congestion in the metropolis.

“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 (TRB),” SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said in a statement yesterday.

He said SMC’s infrastructure unit San Miguel Holdings Corp. could complete the expansion projects in three years.

For the SLEX, SMC plans to add a fifth lane on each direction of the expressway to widen it to 10 lanes.

The first phase of the project covering Alabang to Susana Heights, is estimated to cost P130 million and is targeted for completion within one year.

The remaining section all the way to Calamba, meanwhile, can be completed by 2021, if government approval is given as soon as possible.

SMC has started bidding out the construction of the project to contractors.

To address congestion on the elevated Skyway system, SMC has submitted plans and designs to widen the expressway from Alabang to Sucat by two lanes, and to extend it to the Alabang viaduct.

The expansion will bring the total number of elevated lanes to six, with three lanes on each direction, and provision for a seventh lane.

As for the NAIAX, SMC has submitted engineering plans and the detailed design to extend the expressway up to Bonifacio Global City.

Through the project, SMC expects to help ease traffic on the Sales bridge and cut travel time from the Coastal road, airport terminals 1,2 & 3, and SM Mall of Asia areas to BGC to just 10 minutes.

It is likewise seen to decongest the Magallanes and Edsa-Pasay area.

SMC will also have additional NAIAX ramps from the NAIA terminal 1 and 2 areas until SM Sucat where it can link up with the C5 extension to serve motorists heading to Sucat, Las Pinas, and C5 who usually spend 30 minutes to an hour getting out of the gridlock along airport roads.

The company likewise intends to build a one-lane ramp from the northbound elevated Skyway towards C5 or BGC.

“We’re committed to finishing these on schedule, and we are confident that these projects will greatly improve the traffic situation in Metro Manila which our countrymen have had to endure for many, many years,” Ang said.