This was jointly announced earlier by the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), builder and concessionaire of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), and the state-run Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) which is the current concessionaire of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), at the Senate witnessed by its president Sen. Franklin Drilon.
During a press conference at the Korea House here last Friday, MNTC senior vice president for construction and operations Raul Ignacio explained that they signed an agreement with the BCDA for the integration of the toll collection systems of the NLEx and the SCTEx to provide continuous travel and avoid congestions at toll plazas like what happened to Drilon who spent 11 and a half hours on his way to Baguio City during the Christmas holidays.
But Ignacio said prepaid tickets, from Balintawak to Tarlac or from Balintawak to Subic Tipo to ease travel and provide convenience to motorists during the coming Lenten break, will be available to motorists beginning next month.
Ignacio said the toll integration project is estimated to cost P600 million which would be shouldered by the MNTC.
It would involve the conversion of separate NLEx and SCTEx toll collection systems into a single system which would allow for more efficient toll collection and faster movement of traffic for motorists, he added.
Installation and removal of temporary plazas as well as construction of interchange plazas that would require the widening of existing entry or exit ramps are also part of the project, Ignacio said.
Among the barriers that will be removed are the NLEx Dau barrier and the SCTEx Mabalacat toll barrier. New toll plazas will be constructed at the existing entry and exit ramps at NLEx Dau and Sta. Ines. A new SCTEx Tarlac toll plaza will also be constructed.
The undertaking is expected to “improve lane throughput to 800 transactions per hour from 200 transactions.”
The toll collection technology that is available to NLEx motorists will now be used along the SCTEx, making travel faster and more efficient, he said.
According to the BCDA, the actual integration mayeven be faster because the MNTC will soon be awarded the contract for the SCTEx as well.
This developed as no offers were made during the price challenge for the contract to manage, operate and maintain the SCTEx held early this month.
Reports indicate that “under the price challenge, interested proponents were asked to submit offers higher than MNTC, which entered into a business and operating agreement (BOA) with BCDA for SCTEx in 2011.
With the BOA, MNTC has the right to operate and manage SCTEx for 33 years, while BCDA would be relieved of payment of the P34-billion debt to the Japan International Cooperation Agency for the construction of the tollway.
MNTC offered an upfront cash payment of P3.5 billion, inclusive of 12 percent value- added tax to the BCDA in addition to the 50-50 sharing of gross revenues for the price challenge.”
Meanwhile, the integration of the NLEx-SCTEx toll systems is expected to be completed within the year. The contractor’s design will be completed this month while construction will start in March.
The NLEx-SCTEx integration is only the beginning of the plan to link the countryside and Metro Manila and boost socioeconomic development in the regions, according to Ignacio.
