The tollway unit of San Miguel Corp. has raised its capital expenditures (capex) this year to fund repairs and maintenance of South Luzon Expressway (SLEX).
SMC SLEX Inc., formerly South Luzon Tollways Corp. (SLTC) said its board approved a supplemental capex of P4.6 billion to fund additional capex projects for SLEX.
The company intially allotted P7.4 billion capex this year to partially finance the construction of an expressway from Batangas to Lucena and repair and maintenance of SLEX.
The company said the P6.77 billion budget this year will be used to finance the TR4 Project and the SLEX widening project.
SMC SLEX in March 2019 started the construction of the 66.74-kilometer SLEX Toll Road 4 connecting Sto. Tomas, Batangas to Lucena City, Quezon.
The toll road will shorten the travel time from Sto. Tomas, Batangas to Barangay Mayao in Lucena City from three hours to only 45 minutes.
The P26.1-billion project is expected to be completed by 2026. TR4 is a part of SLTC’s 30-year concession which will last until 2036.
The toll road is divided into six sections, including the Sto Tomas, Batangas to Makban in Laguna (11.32 km); Makban to San Pablo City (12.75 km); San Pablo to Tiaong in Quezon (7.5 km); Tiaong to Candelaria (15 km); Candelaria to Tayabas (10.21 km); and Tayabas to Lucena (9.96 km).
SMC SLEX also allocated P102.4 million for road and facilities repair and P582 million for equipment acquisition for the toll collection system.
A total of P1.26 billion has been spent to date on the undertaking for periodic repair and restoration activities.
The company earlier booked a net income of P2.01 billion in the January to June period, up 27 percent from P1.58 billion in the same period last year. Revenue from toll operations amounted to P3.41 billion, up 10 percent from P3.12 billion in the same period last year.
SLEX achieved an average daily traffic (ADT) of 351,024, lower by 5 percent from 368,683 ADT, reflecting the impact of the Seamless Project which removed the TR3 toll plaza which had an open system with a separate traffic count.
