The Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) on Sunday said the San Miguel Corp. (SMC) proposal to build an expressway over the Pasig River, reported earlier to have been abandoned, is pushing through after all.
According to TRB executive director Alvin Carullo, SMC told the regulator in a letter that it would go ahead with the proposed project and address the concerns of environmentalists that earlier caused the conglomerate initially to abandon the P81.53 billion tollway.
“They are not abandoning the project. As of now, this is a live project,” Carullo said.
Ang in March this year scrapped the PAREX project due to issues raised by environment and conservation advocates.
But Carullo said SMC has asked it be allowed to submit final engineering drawings of the proposed tollway certified by an independent consultant. The submission, he said, required extending the original deadline to October this year instead.
“So come October, SMC will come up with the FED and submit it to TRB.,” he added.
In resubmitted documents, the project is scheduled to begin construction in 2025.
PAREX is a six-lane, 19.37-kilometer elevated expressway traversing the Pasig River from Radial Road 10 in Manila to the proposed South East Metro Manila Expressway at Circumferential Road 6.
The project will connect and use a 2.7-kilometer portion of Skyway Stage 3 from Nagtahan to Plaza Azul.
SMC previously spent P2 billion of its own money to clean up the Pasig River and has proposed integrating a bus rapid transit system, bicycle lanes and pedestrian walkways in the project.
SMC has built and manages several expressways, including the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX), the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR), South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), the Skyway System and the NAIA Expressway (NAIAX).
