TPLEx formally opens

SAN MIGUEL CORP.-led Private Infra Development Corp. (PIDC) on Monday formally opened a stretch of Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx), which is expected to be completed ahead of schedule in 2015.

President Benigno S. C. Aquino III led inauguration rites yesterday at Brgy. San Pascual in Tarlac City, together with San Miguel President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang and Public Works Secretary Rogelio L. Singson.

In a statement, PIDC, the concessionaire of the expressway, said it aimed to complete the project in 2015 from the 2018 original schedule.

“In terms of construction, we are ahead of schedule. We are on track to delivering the entire length of TPLEx as early as 2015,” said Mr. Ang was quoted in the statement as saying.

Yesterday’s inauguration coincided with the opening of the expressway’s Paniqui Exit, which brought to 23 kilometers (km) the total length of the road that is now operational.

PIDC last October opened the first 17-km stretch of the toll road from Tarlac City to Gerona, Tarlac initially for free use by motorists.

Mr. Ang said PIDC will begin collecting toll fees staring next month. “I think in January, second week,” he told reporters yesterday.

From Tarlac City to Gerona, PIDC will be collecting P30.00-P58.00 for Class 1 vehicles (jeepneys, pickups, vans and cars); P76-145 for Class 2 vehicles (light trucks and buses) and P91-P174 for Class 3 vehicles (trailers and large trucks), according to an information sheet distributed to reporters on Monday.

PIDC is working on the 27-km stretch from Paniqui to Moncada in Tarlac, then to Carmen in Pangasinan -- including construction of a 950-meter Agno viaduct -- which is expected to be competed by April next year.

“Right now, we are waiting for the completion of the acquisition of the right of way for the 13.72-kilometer portion from the north bank of the Agno river up to Urdaneta. But our government is working on that. We are confident that we will complete this section up to Urdaneta as early as December 2014,” Mr. Ang said.

PIDC said remaining 25.83-km section from Urdaneta to Rosario, La Union will be completed the following year.

TPLEx, which is said to cut travel the travel time between Manila and Baguio to two to three hours from six, will have security features such as regular patrols by traffic and emergency assistance personnel.

San Miguel, which has diversified to heavier industries such as power and infrastructure from food and beverage, controls the concessionaires behind South Luzon Expressway and Manila Skyway.

Its unit Optimal Infrastructure Development Corp. last May won the P15.8-billion public-private partnership (PPP) project to build Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway, which will link the main airport and Bagong Nayong Pilipino Entertainment City Parañaque City near Manila Bay.

San Miguel, together with Indonesia’s Citra Group, last September secured the green light from Mr. Aquino to build P26.5-billion Skyway 3, a 14-km toll road that will link North and South Luzon expressways.

The conglomerate is eyeing even more toll road projects, with subsidiary Optimal Infrastructure in October submitting prequalification documents for the P35.5-billion PPP project to build the 47-km Cavite-Laguna Expressway.

San Miguel’s net income plunged 28.46% to P17.67 billion as September from P24.70 billion in the same nine months last year, weighed by higher foreign exchange losses. Sales gained 6.65% to P542.56 billion from P508.73 billion, while cost of sales grew 5.54% to P457.97 billion from P433.93 billion.

Its shares lost 95 centavos or 1.58% to close P59.05 apiece on Monday from P60.00 on Friday last week. Philippine financial markets will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday for Christmas holidays. Trading resumes on Thursday. -- CHCV
  
source:  Businessworld