SLEX toll fee hike to be finalized on Friday

The increase in toll fees at the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) will likely proceed on Monday although several groups have been asking the government to intervene by at least postponing its implementation. Officials of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), who will decide on the destiny of the toll hike in a meeting on Friday, said postponement is going to be far from happening as the implementation of the new rate has already been pushed back several times in the last two months. "It's still hard to say whether the toll hike can be postponed further or not," said TRB executive director Manuel Imperial. "I'll present the several requests to have this postponed to the board [on Friday]," he said, adding that "we've already postponed this several times." The 300-percent increase of toll fees at SLEX is intended for the recovery of the P12 billion that South Luzon Tollway Corp. (SLTC) spent to rehabilitate what was then a two-lane road into a four-lane expressway. According to SLTC, it has already lost almost P234 million because of several postponements. The losses that SLTC incurs for every day of delay will have to eventually be charged to the motorists in the form of even higher toll fees, Imperial said. On Thursday, transport groups and some local-government representatives from Southern Luzon provinces submitted their opposition to the implementation of the new rates. If the toll-fee hike is blocked permanently, Imperial said SLTC has the choice to claim compensation from the government — a burden which is essentially passed on to tax payers. —JE/OMG, GMANews.TV