By Filane Mikee Cervantes
MANILA – A planned toll road extending South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to the Bicol Region is expected to reduce transport costs, improve supply chains, and create thousands of jobs, a House leader said Monday.
In a statement, House Committee on Ways and Means chair and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said the Toll Regulatory Board’s (TRB) impending approval of the final engineering design for the first segment of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) Toll Road 5 (TR5) would address long-standing transport bottlenecks in the region.
The TRB recently disclosed that the final engineering design encompasses the initial segment stretching from Lucena to Gumaca in Quezon province.
“Along with ongoing works for TR4, the Lucena-Gumaca segment will bring much-needed relief to commuters and truckers alike, and will reduce the cost of bringing goods to Bicol significantly,” Salceda said.
He added that the project would help alleviate the region’s reliance on costly and unreliable transport links.
“The lack of strong land transport links to Calabarzon effectively makes Bicol an island, which makes us vulnerable to stress on food and supply of other essential goods during emergencies. It also makes our supply chains with Manila very expensive to maintain,” Salceda said.
The lawmaker said the toll road would strengthen links to the Bicol Ecozone in Libon, Albay, an economic zone recently approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.
He noted that the zone, combined with an agricultural superport planned by the Department of Agriculture, could create up to 8,000 new manufacturing jobs and lower food prices in Albay.
“We will definitely pursue arterials from SLEX to Libon,” Salceda said, adding that unlike government-maintained highways, toll roads provide a steady source of funding for maintenance.
Naga-Legazpi segment
Salceda said he would push for the simultaneous construction of the Naga-Legazpi segment of TR5 to speed up benefits to Bicol’s key cities.
“The Naga-Legazpi portion has a catchment area of around 2.2 million people, including the two largest cities in South Luzon. I think RSA (San Miguel Corp. President and CEO Ramon Ang) can pursue and operate that segment in advance so that we don’t have to wait for completion of the emptier parts between Gumaca and Sipocot,” he said.
Salceda also said the toll road would also improve access to Bicol International Airport, which would boost tourism and business in the region.
He vowed to collaborate with the government to explore options for accelerating the project.
“I will be asking [Transportation] Secretary Vince Dizon to explore this option, that we pursue this as soon as possible. It’s good for both cities, and I think it will move the needle positively for SLEX revenues as well,” he said. (PNA)
