San Miguel Corp-led consortium to soft-open TPLEX on Oct 30

Travel times northwards of Metro Manila are expected to improve as a San Miguel Corp.-led consortium will soft-open to the public the first phase of its P23.8-billion Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) on October 30. In an e-mailed statement, San Miguel said the all-Filipino consortium, Private Infra Dev Corporation (PIDC) secured Friday the Toll Regulatory Board's issuance of the Toll Operation Permit. “This marks our first foray into the construction of tollways and is a major milestone in our infrastructure master plan,” San Miguel Corp. president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang was quoted as saying. “The opening of TPLEX holds great significance for us because this is the first in a number of major greenfield projects since we began diversifying into new businesses,” he added. TPLEX, which was completed last month, is the group's the first greenfield road infrastructure project in its portfolio. The first phase Section 1A–a 17-kilometer connection from Tarlac City to Victoria then to Gerona, Tarlac–will cut the current travel time to Baguio by as much as 40 minutes. This is expected to accelerate growth in tourism and trade and agriculture in north Luzon. From Gerona, TPLEX will have exits in Paniqui and Moncada in Tarlac; Rosales, Urdaneta City, and Pozorrubio in Pangasinan, and Rosario, in La Union. Completion of the section up to Rosales is scheduled for middle of 2014 while the section up to La Union is scheduled for completion by 2016. Originally designed as a two-lane road, the TPLEX proponents decided to upgrade it to four to enhance efficiency and road safety and anticipate future growth in traffic volume. Since its diversification to infrastructure, SMC has been aggressive in pursuing road projects. Last April, San Miguel Corp. won the concession to build and operate the NAIA Expressway, which will connect the Skyway system to all three NAIA airport terminals and to the Entertainment City of PAGCOR, and the Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex). The conglomerate is also set to start construction of Skyway Stage 3 that will connect Makati to the North Luzon Expressway and decongest major thoroughfares such as EDSA. — DVM, GMA News