ANGELES CITY — A 16-kilometer toll-road on the west lateral section of the FVR megadike starting at the Porac-SCTEx intersection all the way to the JASA road in Bacolor will soon be realized.
This developed after Porac Councilor Mike Tapang said an investor is willing to undertake the toll-road project with an estimated cost of P500 million under the government’s Public-Private Partnership program.
Tapang said he met recently with Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the Veterans Memorial Hospital in Quezon City where she is under hospital arrest, who told him to push through with the toll-road project with the investor.
Tapang declined to name the investor in the meantime.
Tapang explained that the toll-road project would be beneficial to quarry operators and truckers in the province since it will greatly reduce their cost in hauling sand to their respective points of destinations from the quarry sites.
Diesel consumption would be minimized since the toll-road will not only be a shortcut to JASA that’s free from traffic but is in an angle of decline all the way to JASA which means less fuel consumption for the heavily laden trucks.
The smoothly paved road will also mean less wear-and-tear plus savings from the right-of-way which will no longer be collected at every barangay check-point.
Tapang further explained that if truckers will be able to save P1,000 per day from the reduced cost of daily operations, that will sum up to more than P1 million per day in savings since there are an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 trucks hauling sand on a daily basis.
This will be the realization of the full potential of the quarry industry in Pampanga, he said.
The damage to the other roads leading to and from the quarry areas will also be reduced since overloaded trucks will no longer have to pass on them. The toll-road operator will naturally place weighing scales at the entrance of the toll-way so that overloaded trucks will not be allowed in.
This means that trucks exiting the toll-road to JASA will be following the required maximum weight saving the roads from further damage.
This will also significantly contribute to less traffic, he said. The toll-road can also be an alternative route for private vehicles. At present, motorists are using the east lateral section of the FVR megadike from Porac to JASA in Bacolor. However, the pockmarked road is too narrow for cargo trucks.
Tapang said the toll-road project cannot be realized without the investor since it is not included in the national budget under the General Appropriations Act neither is it included in the Regional Development Council.
He said plans have been submitted to the NEDA, DENR, the Provincial Government and the Toll Regulatory Board for their study.
