DPWH to deliver 70% of right-of-way access to CALAEx Cavite segment

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar talks to reporters during an ocular inspection of the Laguna segment of the CALAEx on Tuesday, October 8, 2019. Ted Cordero, GMA News

STA. ROSA, Laguna — The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is targeting to deliver at least 70% of the right-of-way access for the Cavite segment of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAEx).

Delivering the right-of-way access ensures that the entire 45-kilometer CALAEx will be completed on time by the second quarter of 2022.

“Majority na siguro ng right-of-way by the end of the year. Siguro mga 70%,” Public Works Secretary Mark Villar told reporters during the ocular inspection of the Laguna segment of the CALAEx on Tuesday.

“We are on target,” Villar said.

The DPWH has so far delivered 40% of the right-of-way access for the CALAEx Cavite segment, the Cabinet official noted

“Tuloy tuloy naman ang pag a-acquire ng right-of-way.”

The public-private partnership CALAEx was awarded to Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation’s (MPTC) MPCALA Holdings Inc. in 2015. The concession period is 35 years, including five years for design and construction.

CALAEx’s Cavite segment comprises 27 kilometers of the P35.43-billion 45-kilometer toll road.

The project begins at Kawit and will traverse the Imus Open Canal, Governor’s Drive, Damariñas, Aguinaldo Highway, and Silay, and connect to the Laguna segment.

For the Laguna segment, Villar said 100% of the right-of-way access has been delivered. “On the Laguna portion tapos,” he said.

The 10-kilometer Laguna segment will open to motorists by the end of October.

The Laguna segment starts at the Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna and passes through the Laguna Technopark Interchange, Laguna Boulevard Interchange, all the way to the Sta. Rosa-Tagayatay Interchange.

“Ngayon naman tatawid na ang CALAEx papuntang Cavite,” Villar noted.

Once completed, the travel time from Laguna to Cavite will be cut by more than half from two hours or so to less than one hour—helping to decongest around 50,000 cars.

The toll road will connect CavitEx in Kawit, Cavite to the South Luzon Expressway at the Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna. —VDS, GMA News