Monday, June 22, 2020
Initial works begin in Bulacan airport
San Miguel Corporation has kicked off initial works for its P734-billion airport project in Bulacan, the largest airport deal under the Duterte administration.
The geotechnical investigation and engineering surveys of the project, dubbed as the New Manila International Airport, is now 80 percent accomplished, Transportation Assistant Secretary for Procurement and Project Implementation Giovanni Lopez told the Daily Tribune via email.
SMC is now waiting for the laboratory results and interpretations from Singapore-based firms tapped for the works.
The site survey and relocation will help proponents finalize the earthwork and foundation design for the project and execute necessary repairs.
The execution of these studies started around the second week of May, said Lopez, through the assistance of the DoTr Project Management Office which provided security passes to various project contractors and consultants to ensure health and safety protocols will be strictly observed.
Transportation chief Arthur Tugade, in a recent Malacañang briefing, said the project is not likely to face a “critical delay” even as the progress was “slow.”
SMC did not proceed with the groundbreaking in December 2019 and January 2020 due to “private issues” of president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang and the blanket impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Although the DoTr and SMC have yet to announce a new schedule for the groundbreaking of the project, both assured the project will push through despite lengthy delays.
SMC received the notice to proceed for its unsolicited proposal in September last year.
The airport will be built in a 2,400-hectare property in Bulakan, Bulacan. It will have four runways, eight taxiways, and three passenger terminals and provisions for future expansion to six runways and accommodate 200 million passengers per year.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank previously tagged the project as among the “five airport megaprojects” around the world.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
NLEX Harbor Link’s C3-R10 section to open next week
Travel time from Manila to Quezon City will be reduced to 15-20 minutes once the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10’s C3-R10 Section opens to vehicular traffic next week.
Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said that motorists including those who are driving oversized vehicles such as truckers and cargo haulers are expected to benefit from the opening of the C3-R10 section, which will provide direct access between R10 in Navotas City and NLEX.
“As promised, by June 15, NLEX Harbor Link will be completed. Travel time from Manila to Quezon City will be reduced to only 15 to 20 minutes,” Villar said.
The 2.6-kilometer section extends the existing 5.65-kilometer NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 that passes through Karuhatan, Valenzuela City, Governor Pascual Avenue in Malabon City, and 5th Avenue/C3 Road, Caloocan City bypassing EDSA and Balintawak Toll Plaza.
The C3-R10 section of the NLEX Harbor Link also includes three exit off-ramps: Segment 10-C3 Ramp to Caloocan City, Dagat-Dagatan Ramp to Malabon City, and C3-R10 Ramp to Navotas City.
During the final inspection on Wednesday, Villar also commended the 2,000 construction workers who resumed work last month in order to meet the deadline of the project.
Included under the administration’s Build, Build, Build infrastructure program, the NLEX Harbor Link Project was undertaken by Manila North Tollways Corporation with its subsidiary NLEX Corporation as the builder-concessionaire and operator.
Thursday, June 4, 2020
Central Luzon Link Expressway to partially open Dec 2020
Last year, the Department of Public Works and Highways announced that the first 4.1 km section of the Central Luzon Link Expressway was nearly completed. Part of Package 1 of the major infrastructure project, the four-lane 30-kilometer expressway will connect the cities of Tarlac and Cabanatuan City. That section will also traverse the municipalities of La Paz, Tarlac, and Zaragoza and Aliaga in Nueva Ecija.
Now, the DPWH has stated that they are looking to partially open Phase 1 of the CLLEX to motorists by the end of 2020. According to DPWH Undersecretary for Unified Project Management Office (UPMO) Operations and Technical Services Emil K. Sudain, the 30-kilometer expressway from the connection of SCTEX and TPLEX is 82% complete. It is now being fast-tracked with the aim of 25 kilometers being opened by December 2020.
Sadain added that despite work being suspended last March due to quarantine, the first three contract packages and substantial portions of package 4 can be done this year. This will be made possible with the full blast construction activities. Construction on the expressway resumed last May 5 while also adhering to the DPWH's strict health and safety protocols.
Package 1 (CP-1) or the 4.1-kilometer section of CLLEX is already complete and includes the 300-meter temporary off- and on-ramps constructed at the Rio Chico River Bridge Section. Meanwhile, the 6.4-kilometer Package 2 (CP-2) is 94.78% finished and covers the construction of the 1.5-kilometer Rio Chico River viaduct, 42-meter Sta. Lucia River Bridge, and 38-meter La Paz-Victoria underpass bridge.
Package 3 (CP-3), on the other hand, is now 67.83% complete and sees the construction of the 9.2-kilometer section which includes the building of the 42-meter Guimba-Aliaga underpass bridge and Aliaga interchange. Finally, Package 4 (CP-4) is 68.65 complete and involves the construction of the 10.3-kilometer Cabanatuan section which includes the Cabanatuan and San Juan interchanges.
Work is also being done on a 4.8 kilometer component of the expressway project. This stems from the junction of Carmen-Cabanatuan Road. Dubbed the Zaragoza Interchange section, it comprises of 2.8-kilometer access free road and a two-kilometer interchange ramp. That new road will cross over the embankment of CLLEX main expressway by an overpass.
Once CLLEX is finished, Phase 1 will cut travel time between Tarlac City and Cabanatuan City from 70 minutes to just 20 minutes. Also, the DPWH said that at least 11,200 motorists and commuters will benefit from this as it will ease traffic along Daang Maharlika by about 48%.
For those looking to travel to Central Luzon for the holidays this year, the partial opening of CLLEX will surely lessen travel time.
Monday, June 1, 2020
P30-B CCLEx more than halfway complete
By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
THE P30-billion Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEx), one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects that is expected to ease the worsening traffic in Metro Cebu and help spur economic growth in the Visayas, is now more than halfway complete, its developer said.
“As of April 30, 2020, the overall Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway project stands at 56.86% while construction progress alone is at 42.04,” Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corp. (CCLEC) President and General-Manager Allan G. Alfon told BusinessWorld in an e-mailed reply to questions on May 29.
He added that only a skeleton workforce was fielded to undertake necessary work at certain portions of the 8.5-kilometer toll bridge project during the enhanced community quarantine period.
“As to the project’s timeline, we are reviewing the pandemic’s impact on the target date of completion. Rest assured that all the teams involved in the CCLEx project continue to work hard towards completing it next year. Projecting, however, the exact month in 2021 is a challenge considering the current conditions,” Mr. Alfon said.
The whole bridge was originally scheduled to open in the month of March, in time for the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Christianity in the country.
“With the transition to a more relaxed community quarantine, though, we can already accelerate work on the project’s different components,” Mr. Alfon added.
The toll bridge project, which is expected to benefit around 50,000 vehicles daily, will connect mainland Cebu in Cebu City to Mactan Island through Cordova, a coastal town in the province.
Build, Build, Build projects on track for 2020, 2021 completion
Despite the close to three-month layoff due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several infrastructure projects under the government’s “Build, Build, Build” program are set to finish this year and the next.
According to Presidential Adviser for Flagship Programs and Projects Vivencio Dizon, the administration is also not shying away from big-ticket legacy projects and have several lined up already including the North-South Commuter Rail connecting Clark and Los Banos, as well as the Metro Manila Subway.
Set to finish this year are the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 which is now 76% complete and is expected to be delivered by December; and the Harbor Link connecting North Luzon Expressway to North Harbor is estimated to be completed by the end of the year; the 93%-complete Clark International Airport which is set to open by July; the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) East Extension by year end; and the Bonifacio Global City - Ortigas Center Link Road, which is 45% complete and will be delivered by December 2020 or early 2021.
“The ‘Build, Build, Build’, or unprecedented infrastructure program under the Duterte administration, is one of the key interventions that the government must do and must do swiftly in order to help us get out the mess that has been brought about by COVID-19,” said Dizon.
Next year, the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge and Binondo-Intramuros Bridge are on track to be completed by February.
“By 2021, we are also going to complete two bridges across the Pasig. So there will be a total of three new bridges across the Pasig. This is the most number of bridges we did within one administration across the Pasig River and we are even envisioning to start five more bridges through an ODA (official development assistance) from China,” added Dizon.
Rail projects that will continue are the LRT-1 Cavite Extension and Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7), which will be partially operational by 2021; the MRT-3 Rehabilitation Program to be completed by July 2021; and the Philippine National Railways (PNR) Phase 1 connecting Tutuban, Manila to Malolos, Bulacan, which is targeted to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2021.
https://www.zigwheels.ph/car-news/build-build-build-projects-on-track-for-2020-2021-completion
According to Presidential Adviser for Flagship Programs and Projects Vivencio Dizon, the administration is also not shying away from big-ticket legacy projects and have several lined up already including the North-South Commuter Rail connecting Clark and Los Banos, as well as the Metro Manila Subway.
Set to finish this year are the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 which is now 76% complete and is expected to be delivered by December; and the Harbor Link connecting North Luzon Expressway to North Harbor is estimated to be completed by the end of the year; the 93%-complete Clark International Airport which is set to open by July; the Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2) East Extension by year end; and the Bonifacio Global City - Ortigas Center Link Road, which is 45% complete and will be delivered by December 2020 or early 2021.
“The ‘Build, Build, Build’, or unprecedented infrastructure program under the Duterte administration, is one of the key interventions that the government must do and must do swiftly in order to help us get out the mess that has been brought about by COVID-19,” said Dizon.
Next year, the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge and Binondo-Intramuros Bridge are on track to be completed by February.
“By 2021, we are also going to complete two bridges across the Pasig. So there will be a total of three new bridges across the Pasig. This is the most number of bridges we did within one administration across the Pasig River and we are even envisioning to start five more bridges through an ODA (official development assistance) from China,” added Dizon.
Rail projects that will continue are the LRT-1 Cavite Extension and Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7), which will be partially operational by 2021; the MRT-3 Rehabilitation Program to be completed by July 2021; and the Philippine National Railways (PNR) Phase 1 connecting Tutuban, Manila to Malolos, Bulacan, which is targeted to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2021.
https://www.zigwheels.ph/car-news/build-build-build-projects-on-track-for-2020-2021-completion
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