The national government will finally undertake the extension of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) from Calamba to Batangas and the rehabilitation of the 1.25-kilometer Alabang viaduct instead of the National Development Company (NDC).
This means the Department of Public Works and Highways will be the one to implement the project.
According to the source the project national government had allocated the funding for the SLEX project under the Government’s Medium-Term Philippine Investment Plan and is consistent with the Medium-Term Philippine Development Program.
The SLEX extension from Calamba to Batangas is expected to cost
P2.2 billion while the Alabang viaduct rehabilitation project is estimated to cost between P700 million to P800 million.
It was not clear though if the third component, which is the road widening, will also be undertaken by the DPWH.
Since the project will be undertaken by the DPWH and the financing will come from the national budget, the
P36 million advanced by NDC for traffic mitigation purposes along the Alabang viaduct section will have to be returned.
The project has been mired in legal issues thus delaying its implementation.
In fact, the viaduct rehabilitation project was supposed to be started in January this year. In fact, there was already a winning bidder for the Alabang viaduct.
It could be recalled that NDC through its infrastructure arm the Philippine Infrastructure Corp. (PIC) was supposed to fund the project.
The use of the national budget instead of NDC was seen as a way out of the government from the legal entanglements being raised by Hopewell Crown Infrastructure Inc. (HCII), the joint venture partner of PNCC in the SLEX.
HCII claimed to have the financial muscle to undertake the project but has yet to show their fund.
PNCC earlier said it had terminated its contract with HCII to which the Hong Kong-based firm contested the PNCC move.
Legal issues are expected to arise from this that the government just deemed it fit to undertake the project to push it forward.
The project is crucial in facilitating exports of goods from the Calabarzon.
At present, 60 percent of the exports from the Calabarzon goes all the way to Manila instead of going to the Batangas international port.
