Thursday, May 31, 2018

LRT spends P7.5B to improve facilities

Light Rail Manila Corp. President and CEO Juan Alfonso, along with LRMC COO Rodolfo Chansuyco, inspects the improvements of LRT facilities and coaches at different stations in Manila on Wednesday, May 30, 2018. The P7.5-billion improvement project is under the LRT's capital investment for the betterment of their coaches and other facilities that resulted in the availability of 109 LRT coaches, an increase in ridership of four percent this year, and the increase in daily trips by 9.7 percent. Danny Pata

P10.5-billion NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 completed by 2019

The P10.5-billion North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Harbor Link Segment 10 will be complete and operational before the end of next year.

Work on the Karuhatan to C3 section of the elevated roadway is now 70 percent complete and will be finished by October, 2018, NLEX Vice President for Project Management Nemesio Castillo yesterday announced.

The NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 is an 8.25-km elevated expressway traversing the NLEX from Karuhatan, Valenzuela City, passing through Malabon City, Caloocan City and extending to R-10 in Dagat-Dagatan, Navotas City.

Its C3 to R10 section of the elevated roadway is expected to open by the fourth quarter of 2019, he confirmed.

Featured as one of the big-ticket projects in the said infrastructure plan, the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 is expected to alleviate traffic congestion and drive commerce between the Harbor area and Central and North Luzon.

It is seen to advance transport logistics and facilitate efficient delivery of goods by providing an alternative entry to NLEX, bypassing EDSA and other busy streets of Manila.

Once opened, travel time from the Manila Port to the NLEX will take only 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, ongoing survey of affected properties is underway for the NLEX Connector, an 8-kilometer elevated expressway project to be built above the existing PNR tracks from the C3/5th Avenue Interchange in Caloocan City to PUP Sta. Mesa, Manila.

Upon its completion in 2020, the elevated expressway will provide motorists another alternative to the daily heavy traffic on EDSA. It is also expected to reduce travel time between NLEX and South Luzon Expressway from 2 hours to only 20 minutes.

“We are optimistic that through the help of our partners in government, we will be able to finish these projects as scheduled to further deliver seamless and safe travel to our motorists,” according to NLEX Corporation Senior Vice President for Tollways Development and Engineering Raul Ignacio.