Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. revived a proposal to construct and operate an expressway connecting Manila-Cavite Expressway to Sangley Point in Cavite worth P10 billion.
“We are looking into that. We’re just reviving the [feasibility] study,” MPIC president and chief executive Rodrigo Franco said.
“We hope this year there’s a proposal that we will submit initially to PRA [Philippine Reclamation Authority] and then to TRB [Toll Regulatory Board],” he said.
Franco said the proposal was to build an expressway going to Sangley Point as a road extension of Manila-Cavite Expressway Segment 5.
Segment 5 of Cavitex is a 7.6-kilometer road that will link Kawit to Noveleta to Rosario in Cavite province with an estimated project cost of P22.5 billion.
“Segment 5 is very close to Sangley, so we will easily build this part,” Franco said.
Cavitex Holdings Inc., owned by MPTC, submitted a letter of intent to the Public Works Department to build the Cavitex-Sangley Extension Project as early as 2017.
The project aims to connect the Kawit Interchange of Cavitex to Sangley Point and neighboring provinces of Laguna and Batangas and Metro Manila via a reclaimed road and viaduct totaling 4.63 kilometers.
Cavitex is a 14-kilometer expressway linking Manila and Cavite province.
MPTC’s revival of the proposal to build an expressway going to Sangley came after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the transfer of domestic flights from Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City to Sangley Air Base to ease airport congestion.
Sangley Airbase or the Danilo Atienza Air Base used to be a US naval station base until it was turned over to the Philippine Navy and Air Force in 1971.
The Department of Transportation earlier said the removal of general aviation at Naia would increase the capacity of the terminal by 18 percent to 21 percent.
There are currently 5,100 scheduled commercial weekly flights per week at Naia, according to OAG data. This equates to an average of 365 takeoffs and 365 landings per week. Movements are now capped at 40 per hour.
Naia accounts for nearly 90 percent of all domestic passengers in the Philippines and more than 80 percent of all international passengers.
