MPTC to spend additional P3 billion for CALAX project

MANILA, Philippines — Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Group has to spend an additional P3 billion to build the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX) as a result of more than two years of construction delay.

The Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC)   said yesterday that the cost of putting up CALAX has increased by at least 15 percent, or by P3 billion, from just P20 billion in the original plan.

MPTC chief finance officer Christopher Lizo attributed the hike in construction cost to the over two years of delay in target completion, worsened by spiking inflation worldwide.

At present, CALAX operator MPCALA Holdings Inc. (MHI) collects up to P1.2 million every day from roughly 31,000 motorists passing through the expressway from Mamplasan to Silang East Interchanges. MHI expects toll income to rise to P2 million daily once the Aguinaldo Interchange is opened to the public in December.

Lizo said the Aguinaldo Interchange would raise the traffic volume in CALAX to as many as 50,000 daily.

With the section, MHI hopes to provide motorists with an alternative route to Tagaytay City without having to go through Aguinaldo Highway, one of the busiest roads in Cavite.

However, MHI president Raul Ignacio said it remains to be seen whether the December opening of the Aguinaldo Interchange can proceed in the face of a few right of way (ROW) issues.

“The target date of opening the Aguinaldo Interchange has been moved several times, with the latest target completion being December 2022 again uncertain,” Ignacio said.

“We are pursuing to complete the road in time for the Christmas rush to Tagaytay,” he said.

Under the concession deal with the government, MHI was supposed to finish all 45 kilometers of CALAX in July 2020, but several challenges mainly on ROW acquisition delayed progress. As of November, MHI has secured 98.77 percent of the ROW for the final subsection of CALAX.

The Aguinaldo Interchange, once opened, will reduce travel time to Tagaytay City to 20 minutes, as it sits only 16 kilometers away from the tourist destination.

Also, MHI hopes to open the final interchanges of CALAX, namely, Open Canal, Governor’s Drive and Kawit, by 2023.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman and president of MPTC parent Metro Pacific Investments Corp., has instructed toll road development units to deliver the remaining expressway projects as soon as possible to ensure that they stay near their intended costs.

“I’m pushing them to complete the projects as soon as possible because costs are escalating if you delay, so it is better to finish as soon as they can,” Pangilinan said.