Daang Hari-SLEx road complete by Sept 2014

MANILA, Philippines – The 4-kilometer Daang Hari-SLEx road link – the first infrastructure project bid out under the Aquino administration’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme – will be finished by September or October 2014. 

Officials of conglomerate Ayala Corporation, the winning bidder, had said the connector road can be passable in “middle of 2014.”  

Ayala Corp’s infrastructure arm, AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp, said in an August briefing the project is only 30% complete but construction is going full blast after the rainy season. 

It has been 2 years since the government awarded Ayala Corp with the contract to build and maintain the P2-billion toll road project, also a first for the conglomerate. Revision in the construction of segment 2 caused delays in 2012. (READ: Why Daang Hari-SLEx road link project is delayed)

Ayala Corp has also been ironing out issues with Villar group’s Vista Land & Landscapes, which reportedly wants to put up a mall close to the toll road, and around the same area as where Ayala is keen to build a commercial center, too. 

AC Infrastructure Executive Vice President Noel Eli Kintanar told reporters “[they] have been working closely with Department of Works and Highways (DPWH), and other parties affected by the right-of-way. [They] are hoping to make breakthrough very shortly.”

“We know the value of the project. It’s just a matter of everyone getting into an agreement,” Kintanar said.

Vista Land has asked the government for re-bidding of the project, citing that Ayala did not include its mall plans in the original bid it submitted. 

Ayala Corp has maintained that it submitted the design both for the ‘SLEX interface and mall’. The mall has always been part of the concession agreement.

The toll road 

The Build-Transfer-and-Operate (BTO) project involves the construction of a new 4-kilometer, 4-lane paved toll road that will connect the town of Bacoor in Cavite to the SLEx via Susana Heights Interchange in Muntinlupa.

SLEx is a major artery that connects Metro Manila to the provinces in the south.

The road link will provide additional access to the growing traffic between Las Piñas and Muntinlupa and the province of Cavite, which is one of the fastest-growing areas in Metro Manila.

The oldest and one of the most diversified conglomerates in the country has been eyeing opportunities for synergies within its group particularly for its real estate arm, Ayala Land. Once built, the road will cut travel time to Ayala Land’s residential and commercial projects.

High-end developments Alabang Town Center and Ayala Alabang Village, properties by Ayala Land, are near Daang Hari road. – Rappler.com