Toll holiday: Valenzuela suspends NLEX permit

MANILA, Philippines — Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian suspended yesterday the business permit of North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Corp. for failure to submit a satisfactory action plan to address its deficient radio frequency identification (RFID) cashless toll collection system.

Gatchalian personally served the suspension notice at the NLEX Mindanao Avenue tollgate in Barangay Ugong after the 5 p.m. deadline for the company to submit an action plan lapsed.

A toll holiday will follow the suspension of the business permit as NLEX Corp. will not be allowed to collect toll fees, Gatchalian said.

He issued an executive order for the company to cease and desist from operations and to lift all boom barriers or gates in Valenzuela.

Gatchalian said the city suffered from monstrous traffic jams since the implementation of the cashless toll transactions on Dec. 1.

He clarified that the suspension order is temporary, until NLEX Corp. complies with the city government’s demands, adding that no toll gate is being shut down.

This means that vehicles may still pass through the toll gates but no fee will be collected from the motorists.

All barriers and gates will be lifted and RFID sensors turned off during the toll holiday in Valenzuela, Gatchalian said.

MPTC submits action plan

Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), operator of the NLEX, said it has submitted to Gatchalian a detailed action plan to solve problems involving its RFID system.

“There’s an action plan that will address toll plaza traffic congestion, defective RFID stickers and account balance issues,” MPTC chief communications officer Romulo Quimbo Jr. said. “We sent our letter eletronically before the deadline.”

Gatchalian rejected NLEX Corp.’s request for a 15-day period to submit a report, noting that the glitches in the sensors have been going on for seven years already.

Quimbo said the MPTC acknowledged that the company was indeed having problems in the implementation of the cashless toll collection system, which commenced on Dec. 1 as mandated by the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

“We acknowledged that the cashless toll collection has encountered technical problems and we assured the mayor that the problems are being addressed,” Quimbo said.

He said the MPTC is determined to solve the perennial traffic gridlocks at the tollgates as well as the long lines arising from the cashless transactions.

In a letter dated yesterday, Gatchalian told NLEX Corp. president and general manager J. Luigi Bautista that he found the action plan “unsatisfactory (and) wanting” and that it “fell short of concrete programs, solutions and fixes.”

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco asked the DOTr to extend until March next year the deadline for motorists to have their RFID stickers installed.

“At the rate things are going, I don’t think all 6.1 million registered vehicles in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon will be provided with RFID stickers by Jan. 11, 2021,” Velasco said.

He said the DOTr should consider the fact that the nine-month pandemic has constrained vehicle owners from leaving their homes to apply for RFID stickers.

Sen. Nancy Binay also called for an extension of the implementation of cashless toll collections. – Richmond Mercurio, Delon Porcalla, Cecille Suerte Felipe