NLEX Corp. said net income rose 20 percent to P1.29 billion in the first quarter of 2018 from P1.07 billion in the same period last year on higher traffic at the North Luzon Expressway and Subic-Clark Tarlac Expressway.
“The growth is attributed to the higher traffic during the period for both NLEx and SCTEx. Traffic for each expressway grew by 9.3 percent and 17 percent, respectively, quarter-on-quarter,” NLEX said.
The traffic growth pushed first quarter revenues up by 16 percent to P3.23 billion, from P2.79 billion recorded during the first quarter of 2017.
The average daily traffic in NLEx reached 250,989 vehicles, higher by 9.3 percent against the same period last year, while the average daily traffic in SCTEx hit 59,812, up 17 percent on year.
The company obtained its operating revenues mainly from toll collections at both the NLEx and SCTEx. It generated other income from advertising materials and structures, toll service facilities along the NLEx and rental income from toll service facilities.
Non-toll revenues in the first quarter of 2018 decreased 8.9 percent to P43.4 million from P47.7 million posted during the same period last year due to lower income generated from toll service and utility facilities.
The NLEx currently spans approximately 95 kilometers or 527-lane kilometers, serving an average of 237,046 vehicles a day in 2017. It is the main infrastructure backbone that connects Metro Manila to Central and Northern Luzon.
SCTEx, meanwhile, is a 94-km, 2×2 expressway stretching from Subic-Tipo until La Paz, Tarlac, connecting the special economic zones in Subic and Clark, Olongapo City, to Tarlac City.
The toll road company earlier budgeted P19 billion in capital expenditures this year to build new expressway projects to help solve Metro Manila’s traffic bottlenecks.
It is spending to construct the urban portions of North Luzon Expressway, such as the Harbor Link Segment 10 (including the R10 Section in Dagat-Dagatan, Navotas City) and the NLEx-SLEx Connector Road project.
Expected to be opened this year, Harbor Link Segment 10 is a 5.7-kilometer elevated expressway traversing NLEx from Smart Connect Interchange and cross over MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela City with down ramps along C3/5th Avenue Interchange in Caloocan City.