With no other proposals submitted, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is set to award to Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corporation (MPTDC) the contract for the road project that will connect the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX).
The project is set to go to its original proponent, MPTDC, the tollways unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., as no comparative proposal was submitted by the July 25 deadline, said Eugenio Pipo, Jr., Public Works assistant secretary and chairman of the special bids and awards committee for civil works.
Pipo said a resolution of award recommending MPTDC will be prepared and submitted for the approval of the public works secretary. The contract is expected to be signed in November.
DPWH in 2010 received and approved an unsolicited proposal from MPTDC and its subsidiaries to connect NLEX and SLEX.
Last April, DPWH started inviting local and international companies to hand in their comparative proposals under a Swiss challenge bidding process to finance, design, construct, operate, and maintain the NLEX-SLEX connector road.
MPTDC’s proposal seeks to utilize for the project the existing right-of-way of the Philippine National Railways from C3 Road, Caloocan, to PUP Sta. Mesa, Manila, in order to connect NLEX to SLEX via the South Metro Manila Skyway System (MMSS) Project.
A part of the DPWH master plan for high-standard highway systems, the connector is envisioned as an eight-kilometer, four-lane elevated tolled expressway that starts from NLEX Segment 10 of Circumferential Road (C-3)/5th Avenue, Caloocan City, and links up with the SLEX through stage 3 of the MMSS.
The connector consists of at least two interchanges and two tolling plazas.
DPWH said the connector road is expected to ease traffic in Metro Manila, as well as “address the existing congestion problem in the Port of Manila, ultimately improving its competitiveness.” The connecting road will also provide an alternative route to C5, EDSA, and other major thoroughfares, while reducing transit time between NLEX and SLEX.
Image courtesy of Sura Nualpradid at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
