San Miguel Corp. said Tuesday it completed the construction of the 17.93-kilometer stretch of the Skyway Stage 3 project ahead of schedule, linking Southern and Northern Luzon seamlessly.
“I’m happy to announce that the whole structure of Skyway 3 is now complete. With this, Skyway 2 in Buendia is now officially extended all the way to the North Luzon Expressway. After many challenges, this project faced in previous years, the dream of connecting north and south and providing an alternative to EDSA is now a reality,” San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said.
The completion was done ahead of the original October 31 schedule the company earlier announced following delays amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
With Skyway 3, travel from South Luzon Expressway to North Luzon Expressway will now only take 20 minutes, from around three hours previously. Magallanes to Balintawak will take about 15 minutes, Balintawak to NAIA only 15 minutes and Valenzuela to Makati in just 10 minutes.
Ang said, however, that the expressway could not be opened to the public just yet, as finishing works such as the proper curing of asphalt were delayed by continuous and heavy rain.
“We’re very excited to open Skyway 3 to the public. We just have to wait for the weather to improve, so we can make sure that the asphalt will cure properly. That and a few more finishing touches are all that’s needed, and then we can open, soon,” he said.
Ang said that since COVID-19 restrictions were eased in mid-May to June, the company doubled its efforts to deliver major infrastructure projects with the least delays possible.
San Miguel in mid-July delivered the last section of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway to Rosario, La Union, officially opening the entire stretch of the TPLEX to motorists.
Apart from Skyway 3, the company is also looking to deliver the northbound section of the Skyway Extension—which provides additional lanes and connects the South Luzon Expressway to Skyway near Susanna Heights and the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway—by December this year.
Ang vowed to push through with all major infrastructure projects despite the economic slowdown due to the pandemic to generate jobs and help the economy recover.
The P740-billion Manila International Airport project in Bulacan, said to be the largest single-item investment in Philippine history, is also set to break ground by the end of the year.
Seen as a game-changer for the Philippine economy, it will generate over a million direct and indirect jobs and, once completed, create 30 million tourism jobs nationwide.
