ROW problems delay P10.5-B NLEx-North Harbor Link

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Right-of-way problems have prompted the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) to extend to 2018 the completion of the P10.5-billion North Luzon Expressway- North Harbor Link whose completion was initially expected this year.

MNTC project manager Fernando Quinto said workers have concentrated work on the installation of concrete girders between the posts and foundations at the corner of the MacArthur Highway and NLEx Mindanaoo Avenue Interchange in Barangay Karuhatan in Valenzuela City.

A girder is a long concrete slab which would serve as flooring for the elevated portions of the expressway, he explained, noting that the entire link would stretch 5.6 kilometers.

Quinto said the NLEx-North Harbor Link would finally solve port congestion at the Manila North Harbor in Port Area, Manila as trucks from northern provinces would be able to access the port amid truck ban in other routes. Once finished, trucks would access the link via the Mindanao Avenue Interchange, he said.

Quinto reported that at present, only the portions from the MacArthur Highway in Barangay Karuhatan have been substantially completed, while the construction remains full blast on the elevated NLEx-North Harbor Link towards the C-3 in Caloocan City and on the ramps towards the entry towards Port Area.

He said that once the NLEx-North Harbor Link is completed, the construction of the NLEx-South Luzon Expressway connector road would start.