NLEX Corp. on Monday bared allotting P15 billion as capital expenditure (capex) next year to expand its tollway projects.
J. Luigi Bautista, president and general manager of NLEX, said next year’s capex will be used to fund the construction of the third Candaba Viaduct project and road widening in San Fernando, Pampanga.
At the moment, the new five-kilometer Candaba Viaduct between Pampanga and Bulacan provinces is 30 percent complete.
Targeted for completion by November next year, the P7.89-billion project requires the construction of a new bridge in the middle of the existing viaducts.
When completed, the viaduct will increase road capacity of the entire Candaba section from three lanes without shoulder to three lanes with inner and outer shoulders in each direction. These lanes and shoulders will be wide, hence, boosting the safety and convenience of those traversing the viaduct.
Bautista also said the construction of the P5.5 billion road widening project in San Fernando is expected to start by the first quarter next year.
“We call it NLEx Segment 3 widening. It is going to be from San Fernando all the way to SCTEx. We are going to add one line in each direction,” Bautista said.
NLEX earlier reported net income of P7.07 billion in the January to September period, higher than only P5.72 billion in the same period last year.
The company’s total revenue amounted to P15.67 billion, up 20 percent from P13.1 billion in the same period last year.
NLEX attributed the increase in revenue to higher traffic volume and the impact of its toll rate adjustments implemented in June this year.
NLEX said all vehicle classes using the toll road posted double digit revenue growth, with Class 1 revenue growing by 18 percent, Class 2 by 26 percent, and Class 3 by 18 percent.
As of 30 September this year, the average daily traffic at NLEX reached 321,384 daily vehicle entries, higher than 2022 figures by 15 percent. The average daily traffic at SCTEX reached 77,878 daily vehicle entries or 10 percent above last year’s figures covering the same period.
The average daily traffic at the Connector Road Section 1 averaged close to 12,000 vehicles per day, the company said.
