Manila North Tollways Corp. said it will spend P2.6 billion to expand the North Luzon Expressway ahead of an anticipated vehicular traffic congestion by 2018.
Scheduled to start this month, the road-widening project will expand the existing two-lane portion of NLEx between Sta. Rita and San Fernando to three lanes on both the northbound and southbound sides.
The current one-lane stretch between Dau and Sta. Ines will be expanded to two lanes on both sides.
“These are where queues of vehicles usually form especially during holidays when many motorists from Metro Manila leave the metropolis for destinations in Central and Northern Luzon,” MNTC president and chief executive Rodrigo Franco said.
MNTC is a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the toll road arm of the Metro Pacific Group.
The Toll Regulatory Board as early as 2013 informed the MNTC, Cavitex Infrastructure Corp. and South Luzon Tollways Corp. about the anticipated congestion in their respective tollways by 2018.
CIC and SLTC run the Manila-Cavite Expressway and South Luzon Expressway, respectively.
“Traffic volume increases every year, so we need to build additional lanes in certain portions of the expressway in order to maintain the high quality service that we provide motorists,” Franco said.
Vehicle entries in NLEx, according to MNTC data, rose to over 218,000 last year from almost 200,000 in 2014.
Franco said aside from making travel on NLEx more comfortable for motorists, the project would also benefit merchants who use the expressway to transport their goods.
“Transport of products to and from the provinces will be faster and more efficient once NLEx is expanded,” he said.
Franco assured motorists that despite the road expansion works, traffic on the expressway would remain smooth.
MNTC earlier borrowed P5 billon each from Union Bank of the Philippines and Philippine National Bank to finance various projects like the NLEx widening and the SCTEx projects as well as to refinance debts.
The company is implementing the construction of Segment 10 at NLEx, part of the Harbor Link project leading to the Port Area, which is estimated to cost around P10.5 billion. Segment 10 is expected to open by the second quarter of 2017.
MNTC also allotted P1.5 billion over two years to upgrade the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.
State-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority formally turned over the management, operation and maintenance of SCTEx to MNTC last year.
The operator of NLEX and SCTEX earlier reported a net income of P2.22 billon in the January-September period, up 22 percent from P1.82 billion a year ago, mainly due to high traffic growth and toll revenues generated during the period.
MNTC’s revenues in the nine-month period rose 10 percent to P6.04 billion from P5.47 billion as average daily traffic hit 199,196, up 9 percent in 2014.