Taguig-Parañaque segment of C5 South Link Expressway to open on July 23

A portion of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) South Link Expressway traversing the cities of Taguig and Parañaque is set to be opened for motorists by middle of next month.

During the ocular inspection of the Segment 3A1 of the C5 South Link Expressway on Thursday, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said the portion will be opened on July 23.

The 2.2-kilometer Segment 3A1 spans CP Garcia in Taguig City to Sucat in Parañaque City.

"We are fast-tracking construction to be able to open the 2.2-kilometer Segment 3A1... to immediately alleviate congestion and enable motorists to easily cross from Merville, Parañaque to Taguig and vice versa," Villar said.

"This alignment features the bridge that crosses over Skyway at-grade and SLEx (South Luzon Expressway) and aimed to decongest Sales Road, as well as the East and West Service Roads."

The Public Works chief said the partial operability of the C5 South Link Expressway will help about 5,000 vehicles to cross Taguig and Parañaque in under three minutes.

"Vehicular traffic spends about 1.5 hours just to cross Villamor to Taguig via Fort Bonifacio," Villar said.

The P10-billion project spans 7.7 kilometers. The C5 South Link Expressway aims to connect C5 road to Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway (CAVITEx) passing through Taguig, Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Cavite.

The project is targeted to be completed by last quarter of 2021, according to Villar.

"When completed, C5 South Link will seamlessly connect C5 and Cavitex via Merville and Sucat. It will benefit about 50,000 cars in key areas of Metro Manila such as Makati, Taguig, Las Piñas, Pasay, and Parañaque as well as the roads of EDSA, Sales, East and West Service Roads," Cavitext Infrastructure Corp. president and general manager Boby Bonita said.

"C5 South Link from CP Garcia, Taguig when connected to Cavitex, Parañaque maybe traversed in under 10 minutes," Bonita said.

CIC is a concession company under MPTC.

MPTC is a subsidiary of Pangilinan-led infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC). —KBK, GMA News