SMC’s Ang, Gov. Guico to Ink Expressway’s Construction

By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Pangasinan Governor Ramon Guico, III and the San Miguel Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon Ang will sign the Pangasinan Link Expressway (PLEX) contract at 10 A.m of Thursday (October 19) to be held at the Sison Auditorium here.

The agreement is the P34 billion 43.29 kilometers Phase-1 of the PLEx) to be funded by the corporate behemoth.

 CHIEFS. San Miguel Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon Ang (left) and Pangasinan Governor Ramon V. Guico, III.

The four-lane sixty meters’ width tollway has an allowance for more lanes to accommodate more vehicles in the future.

“Next is the signing of the agreement. Ground breaking and simultaneous to that, I believed, is the acquisition of the right of way and the engineering aspect of the project designs. Of course there will be some revision along the way but no major revisions baka magdagdag lang ng exit,” Guico told reporters on July 10 after the provincial lawmaking body authorized the governor to represent the province on signing the proverbial dotted lines of the contract with the Forbes’ Top 174 corporation among 800 firms worldwide.

On March this year the provincial government received an unsolicited proposal from the multinational corporation for a joint venture.

PHASE - 1

The Phase-1 of the PELEx will straddle the 43.29 kilometers from the towns of Binalonan, Manaoag, Calasiao to Lingayen.

 It will expedite travel time from 20 to 30 minutes from Binalonan to Lingayen. Presently, it takes one hour and forty minutes for a vehicle to cruise that stretch.

The Governor wanted to request the SMC to construct an access of the expressway to Dagupan City. The coastal city shares a boundary with first class burgeoning town’s Calasiao.

“Ako gusto ko e request magkaroon ng Dagupan,” he said.

The Phase -1 will be opened to the public after four years from the spade work.

The Phase -2 stretches the 30.98 kilometers from Lingayen to Alaminos City.

 

       P3-B FOR WORKERS JUST FOR THE SPADE WORK IN PHASE-1

Each of the kilometer of the two phases highways will cost SMC P785, 400, 785. This includes the clearing, grubbing, base preparation, acquisition of road right of way and others as disclosed to this writer by a District Engineer of the Department of Publics Works & Highway.

Former National Irrigation Administration Regional Manager Eng. John Celeste said the other factor that makes the PELEx expensive are the huge long bridges that could be built above the residences and commercial places of the towns that host the expressway.

If the consortium of SMC and DMCI Holdings, Inc. constructed the 89.21 kilometers’ Tarlac-Pangasinan- La Union Expressway (TPLEX) that straddles from Tarlac City to Rosario, La Union and provided 12,000 jobs (Philippines Star), the PELEx Phase – 1 would give 5,800 works while the Phase 2 could provide 4,151 employments.

At a minimum wage of P400 for a worker in Region-1, there will be a whooping P3 billion that would circulate in and out of Pangasinan in the four years’ construction of the Phase -1. Phase-2 could give P2.1 billion in the same places and period.

                                          MULTIPLIER EFFECTS

With a reduced travel movement from the densely populated Metro Manila and its neighboring regions to Pangasinan, many tourists would be attracted to visit Pangasinan.

The PELEx bodes well for the tourism industry of the Northern Luzon’s province as it competes with the beaches and recreational places in Boracay in Aklan, El Nido in Palawan and Siargao in Surigao.

After the expressway comes into operation, businessmen will benefit for a rapid less expense travel on fuels, wear and tear of their vehicles and foods.
The eastern Pangasinan towns are vegetable producers while most towns in the western part of the province produce milkfish.

PELEx is a sweet heart deal chalked up by Guico from the conglomerate where the latter does all the financial yeoman’s job.

The lawmaking body’s empowered the governor through a Joint Venture Ordinance with the SMC.

Under the agreement, the province will be entitled to a 5 percent share in the toll revenue and commercial development revenues of the project from the start of the concession period. The provincial government is also entitled to the 30 percent of the earnings before taxes after the proponent has eclipsed the project internal rate return (PIRR) of 10 percent.

 The governor said if the PIRR exceeds 12 percent, the province will share 70 percent of earnings before taxes.

Guico said after 35 years of the toll way endeavor, the corporation will turn over the ownership of the PELEx to the provincial government.

The contract is a Public-Private- Partnership – the successor of the Build-Operate-Transfer Law.