spot_img
28 C
Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

NLEX mulls TRO, city drops talks

- Advertisement -

The scheduled dialogue Thursday between the city government of Valenzuela and NLEX Corp. regarding the controversial radio frequency identification (RFID) cashless payment scheme will no longer push through, Mayor Rex Gatchalian said Wednesday.

This emerged following a reported plan of the management of NLEX to file a temporary restraining order against the suspension of its business permit by the Valenzuela government.

Gatchalian posted screenshots of the live tweets of a radio station’s interview with NLEX Corp. senior vice president Romulo Quimbo Jr., who said they were mulling filing for a TRO.

In his tweets, Gatchalian said the local government “doesn’t do well being threatened. We will welcome them filing a case in court. We know we stand on strong legal ground so we are ready to defend our actions.”

In a separate Dobol B sa News TV interview, heard nationwide, Gatchalian stressed that NLEX should have not called for a dialogue if it really intended to bring the matter to the court.

- Advertisement -

NLEX Corp.’s business permit was suspended by the Valenzuela government on Monday due to the unresolved issues on the RFID cashless payment mess.

Gatchalian said the duration of the suspension of the business permit would depend on how soon NLEX would act on the complaints against them.

Meanwhile, the Toll Regulatory Board warned tollway operators of penalties and possible suspension over violations of the implementing rules and regulations of cashless transactions in expressways.

In a statement on Tuesday evening, the TRB said its continuing operations and systems audit in enforcing cashless transactions in toll plazas has identified glitches that have been relayed to toll operators.

“These glitches, admitted by the North Luzon Expressway Corp. to be happening, are not new to TRB management and were subject to notices to correct,” the TRB said.

To avoid penalties and possible suspension, it ordered toll operators to “aggressively pursue and consistently implement” measures that would fix issues with their RFID systems and help ease traffic.

These include the immediate replacement of worn-out or defective RFID sensors, related RFID equipment, and RFID tags; relocation of RFID installation and reloading lanes that hamper traffic flow; maintenance or upgrade of systems software; enhancing traffic management, and improving customer service.

Following the suspension of the business permit of the NLEx Corp. by Gatchalian on Monday, the TRB said the matter was “between the City of Valenzuela and the NLEx operator.”

“We have been assured that this is being given appropriate attention and hoped to be resolved very soon,” the board said.

Earlier, the NLEx Corp. said it would seek “a series of dialogues” with Gatchalian after the revocation of their business permit in Valenzuela City over heavy traffic caused by the implementation of cashless toll transactions.

The revocation of the permit forced the company to waive toll fees in its toll gates in the city, specifically the Karuhatan-Mindanao Avenue Toll Plaza, Karuhatan-Harborlink Toll Plaza, Karuhatan-MacArthur Highway Sub-Exit, Mindanao Avenue Toll Plaza, Paso de Blas Toll Plaza North Bound, Paso de Blas Toll Plaza South Bound, and Lawang Bato Toll Booth.

In related developments:

The House of Representatives’ Committee on Transportation on Wednesday slammed the TRB for not doing its job in light of the massive gridlock along the North Luzon Expressway caused by technical problems encountered with cashless transaction system using the RFID technology.

“Thee massive gridlock along NLEX would have been prevented if only the TRB was doing its job,” Samar Rep. Edgar Sarmiento, the panel’s chairman, said at a media forum.

TRB is an agency under the Department of Transportation that regulates all toll roads in the country. It also has the authority to enter into contracts on behalf of the government with entities for the construction, operation and maintenance of toll facilities.

Sarmiento said his committee had kept on reminding the TRB on the need to fix all issues related to RFID prior to full implementation of the cashless transaction system at expressways.

He said the TRB and DOTr should heed Speaker Lord Allan Velasco’s call to further extend the deadline for the full implementation of cashless toll operation to March 2021.

Velasco earlier said the extension will give motorists enough time to secure the RFID stickers considering the limited or restricted movement of the population due to COVID-19.

“While going cashless is a step in the right direction, the TRB should have ensured first that the machines and other necessary equipment were working properly,” said Sarmiento.

“The RFID reader equipment for NLEX have yet to be upgraded. That information was relayed to us by no less than a representative of NLEX,” Sarmiento said.

He added that his committee also asked the DOTr for a timeline on the acceptable process of transition to going cashless on both NLEX and South Luzon Expressway. He has yet to receive a reply for this request.

Sarmiento said that the TRB should also coordinate with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) regarding the fees they collect on the RFID stickers being distributed.

Sarmiento earlier noted that Thailand and Indonesia took a year and a half on the average to be fully cashless.

“In comparison, it’s been barely five months from the issuance of the DOTr’s Department Order 2020-012 since the implementation of cashless payment,” Sarmiento pointed out.

Meanwhile, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Wednesday lauded Gatchalian for his move to suspend toll collection until the RFID glitches were resolved.

Citing severe traffic congestion on the Quezon City side of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) Mindanao Smart Connect tollway in Valenzuela City, Belmonte backed Gatchalian’s decision to suspend the business permit of NLEX Corp. until the glitches identified with its cashless transaction are ironed out.

I fully support cashless transactions, especially as this is part of the new normal. But if implementation is flawed, then the purpose of this technology, which is to promote convenience and speed up the flow of vehicular traffic, will not be achieved. In the case of Mindanao Avenue, traffic has, in fact, worsened,” she said.

She also thanked Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan for his offer to cooperate with NLEX Corp. to address all malfunctioning systems at the Balintawak toll plaza in Caloocan since congestion and bottlenecks in the area greatly affect vehicular traffic in Quezon City.

“Our traffic enforcers have been deployed at the intersection of the NLEX Smart Connect tollway and Mindanaoer Avenue for several months now just to ease traffic due to this problem,” said Dexter Cardenas, head of the Quezon City Traffic and Transport Management Task Force.

“Hopefully, the joint efforts of the local government units and the NLEX Corp. will lead to favorable results benefitting our motorists,” he said.

Belmonte reiterated her appeal to Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairperson Danilo Lim, and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chairperson Martin Delgra III to ree-open two major interchanges along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue.

The measure would address traffic congestion resulting from the closure of U-turn slots to give way to the EDSA bus carousel. With PNA

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles