Japan gov’t to fund SCTEX extension to Aurora

The Japanese government has pledged to provide funding for the construction of the Subic-Clark Expressway extension to this province.

Sen. Edgardo Angara said the change in the government of Japan from former Prime Minister Taro Aso to PM Yukio Hatoyama has not altered the Japanese government’s position regarding the SCTEX-Aurora extension project.

“That’s the good thing about Japan. They will change their leaders but not their economic policies and directions,” he said.

Angara noted that Aso earlier committed to finance the SCTEX extension from La Paz, Tarlac to Rizal, Nueva Ecija and to Aurora to effectively cut travel time from six to four hours.

He said Aso made the commitment during President Macapagal-Arroyo’s state visit to Japan last June where the senator was part of her official delegation. During the meeting with Mrs. Arroyo and Angara, Aso even remarked that the extension project would extend “all the way to the constituency of Angara in Aurora.”

The 93.77-kilometer, four-lane SCTEX is considered as the country’s longest expressway, envisioned as a backbone of development in Central Luzon. A flagship project of the Bases Conversion Development Authority, it runs through the provinces of Bataan, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales and interconnects three major Central Luzon economic zones, namely Central Techno Park in Tarlac, Clark Freeport Zone and Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

Once extended to the province, it would be interconnected to the Aurora Special Economic Zone in Casiguran, Aurora. By: Mamer Bañez - Journal online

San Miguel buys 35% in tollway venture

DIVERSIFYING FOOD and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. has solidified its intent to become a major player in the infrastructure sector by acquiring a significant stake in a consortium that will construct the 88-kilometer Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union expressway project.

San Miguel, through subsidiary Rapid Thoroughfares, Inc., signed a subscription agreement for a 35% stake in Private Infrastructure Development Corp.

The move sealed the non-binding agreement San Miguel signed with the company in July, and marked the conglomerate’s entry in the infrastructure business after investing in heavier industries like power distribution and oil refinery last year.

"The agreement is the most recent step in the company’s strategic transformation to diversify from its core food, beverage and packaging portfolio and marks its entry into infrastructure and tollways," San Miguel said.

Private Infra had said it hopes to start the construction of the tollway on September or October from original date of April, and finish the project in 2014. Depending on how things work out, San Miguel plans to increase its stake to a controlling interest of 51%.

Private Infra has filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission to reclassify P1 billion in preferred to common shares. The all-Filipino company also plans to increase its authorized capital stock to P4.5 billion and further increase this to P6.5 billion next month.

The P18-billion road network is expected to cut travel time from Manila to Baguio by half.

San Miguel has other infrastructure projects in mind. Earlier, the conglomerate disclosed plans to build a tollway that will connect Nueva Ecija to Cagayan Valley Road and together with Private Infra, a road from Rosario, La Union to Laoag. San Miguel has also expressed interest to acquire a stake in the operations of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway from the state-led Bases Conversion Development Authority.

In July, San Miguel President Ramon S. Ang said the investment in Private Infra was in line with diversification plans, and "we’re happy to be a catalyst for the infrastructure needs of the country."

Mr. Ang noted that the northern and central Luzon stretch is a potentially dynamic industrial corridor and the proposed expressway would make it easier and cheaper to move goods and people from one point of Luzon to another.

"As a food and beverage conglomerate with one of the most developed distribution networks in the country, we have a strong interest in making it happen," Mr. Ang said.

Since announcing plans to venture outside its traditional food and beverage businesses, San Miguel has already bought significant stakes in various companies, which include the Bank of Commerce, Manila Electric Co., and Petron Corp.

San Miguel on Wednesday entered the power generation business after winning the 620-megawatt Limay Combined Cycle Power plant in Bataan through a negotiated sale with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. The group had offered $13.5 million for the plant.

The conglomerate is also the sole bidder for the Laiban Dam project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System.

Shares in San Miguel did not move at P65 apiece yesterday. — Kristine Jane R. Liu - Business World

P132-M expense for Subic-Clark-Tarlac road questioned

The Commission on Audit (CoA) has questioned some P132 million of Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) expenses for the construction of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTex), citing duplicated entries, bloated prices of materials, and unnecessary spending.

CoA further noted in its report that BCDA should have held its consultants liable for around P7.726 billion in design changes.

"The justifications to the observations of the Commission on Audit on the cost differences of the expressway were duly submitted by BCDA to CoA. We’re setting up a meeting to explain the said discrepancies and clarify the issues," Lani B. Macasaet, BCDA public affairs manager said in a phone interview Monday.

BCDA oversaw the construction of the 93.77-kilometer expressway, which connects Subic, Clark and Tarlac. The expressway, which was funded largely by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, began commercial operations in late July.

CoA said that BCDA’s payment of P57.214 million to Kajima Corp. and Hazama Corp. for rent of private vehicles for engineers violated Republic Act 4136, which prohibits the hiring of private cars. CoA further noted that there was no lease agreement for the transaction.

The P20.212 million BCDA spent to pay for the fuel and maintenance costs of certain service vehicles for the project was likewise questioned, with CoA stressing that the contractor should have shouldered this cost, as agreed upon in the contract.

BCDA’s justification that the payment was allowed under the Bill of Quantities, a separate agreement from the contract, was a wrong interpretation of that agreements’ provisions, CoA said.

"[BCDA’s] interpretation of the said sub-clause is of no merit. Provisions appearing in the contract agreement should prevail over items specified in the Bill of Quantities," CoA said.

CoA also asked SBMA to delineate survey work performed by various contractors, suspecting that consultants were paid for duplicated work. "The works performed by the [consultants] were done within the same area, thereby making the services a duplication," CoA said. "We recommend that [BCDA] justify why the payment of P23 million should not be disallowed."

An additional P10 million involved in the survey of lots was also deemed irregular, as CoA found that BCDA paid surveyors even before negotiations for the project’s contract were concluded.

The report quoted BCDA as saying that the early payment was done because negotiations took too long and the survey of the lots had to be done immediately to address right-of-way issues.

BCDA was also quoted as saying that a clause in the project’s contract allowed for the reimbursement of costs for advanced jobs.

CoA also tagged as "unnecessary" the P19.158-million expense arising from the splitting of the construction contract to two corporations, R.D. Policarpio and Baque Corporation.

"[BCDA] could have saved such costs had the contract for the construction of ramps and over-passes was not [sic] split into two contracts but awarded and implemented by only one contractor," CoA said in the report.

The report quoted BCDA as replying that contracts for the overpasses were separated into two in a bid to meet the overall construction deadline.

CoA also estimated that costs for the overpasses’ construction were bloated by P1.752 million, citing inconsistent unit prices for the concrete slabs, and lumped costs that exceeded the provisional sum in the contract.

CoA deemed another P557,000 in expenses for the construction of ramps in Tarlac by Baque Corp. as duplicated work.

CoA also ordered BCDA to explain a lack of provision in the contract that would pin liability on consultants for the costly redesign of the expressway.

"[The redesigns] should have been part of the detailed scope of work of the consultants under the original contract. Designs should have been adequate so no variation orders were necessary," CoA said.

"Numerous variations reflected deficiencies in the planning and design stage of the project which the consultants should have been held accountable for."

The project had 137 documented redesign works costing P7.726 billion, CoA said in the report.

The report quoted BCDA as saying that the changes in the designs were due to the reduction of the project budget to P21 billion from P25 billion. - BusinessWorld

Subic toll expressway contract up for bidding

STATE-OWNED Bases Conversion and Development Authority is preparing the terms of reference for the bidding later this year of the long-term contract to operate the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway toll road.

Subic toll road spokesman Robert Gervacio said the BCDA was finalizing the terms of the operation and maintenance contract, which would likely cover a term of least 10 years.

The authority bid out the contract twice last year and failed in both auctions.

Gervacio said the agency negotiated the contract after two failed biddings as provided in the government procurement law. The negotiations resulted in the hiring of the joint venture of First Philippine Holdings Corp. and Egis Road Operation and Tollways Management Corp. as interim service provider to operate the toll road six months, renewable for another six months.

The entire 94-kilometer tollway is now open for commercial operations. The Subic-Clark segment opened in April, while the Clark-Tarlac section commenced last month.

Gervacio said the toll road now serves as the new economic backbone for Central Luzon and adjoining regions, creating wider opportunities for investment, trade and employment.

With the opening of the entire road, motorists from Manila can now travel straight to Subic via the North Luzon Expressway and the Subic Freeport Expressway in Tipo.

Motorists can also exit at Subic toll road interchanges in Dinalupihan, Bataan; Mabalacat, Pampanga; and the municipalities of Concepcion, San Miguel and Tarlac City in Tarlac. By Elaine Ruzul S. Ramos - Manila Standard Today

Clark-Tarlac expressway opening set

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority will open the 32-kilometer Clark-Tarlac segment of its flagship project on Friday.

This will fully open the 93.77-km Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway to the public. Earlier, last April 28, the 50.5-km Clark-Subic segment became operational.

With the full commercial operations of the entire stretch of the toll way, travel time from Subic to Tarlac is reduced from two hours to a mere 65 minutes; or 40 minutes from Clark to Subic and 25 minutes from Clark to Tarlac. From the North Luzon Expressway in Balintawak, travel time to Subic is reduced to one hour and a half.

As approved by the Toll Regulatory Board, toll rates are: P2 per kilometer for Class A vehicles, P4 per kilometer for Class B vehicles and P6 per kilometer for Class C vehicles. Class A vehicles intending to travel the full length of the SCTEx from Subic to Tarlac City will pay the maximum P181 toll fee, Subic to San Miguel P172, and Subic to Concepcion P144.

Motorists using the expressway will realize savings on fuel consumption, reduced cost on vehicle maintenance, comfortable travel and relaxed driving.

The new expressway, considered the backbone of the new economic corridor in Central Luzon, is expected to boost investment, trade and employment opportunities in the region, according to BCDA president Narciso Abaya.

MNTC rebuilds Subic-Tipo roadway

The rehabilitation of the Subic Freeport Expressway is expected to be finished by August this year.

The Manila North Tollways Corp., which is overseeing the works, said the 8.6-kilometer road “has served its full 10-year design life” but will be restored to its original state as MNTC gives it a new lease on life. MNTC is also the builder and concessionaire of the 84-kilometer North Luzon Expressway.

With 40 percent of the job already done, MNTC engineers are optimistic they will hit their target completion date on August 15.

The SFEX was constructed from 1995 to 1996 and was completed in time for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Meeting in Subic. The road was opened to traffic in November 1996 and has not undergone any major pavement repair since then, except for routine maintenance works.

MNTC senior vice president for operations Luigi L. Bautista said because of effective routine maintenance, the roadway has endured the daily traffic pounding on its carriageway. “This is the first time that we are implementing such rehabilitation work,” Bautista said.

The project included the rehabilitation of the “heavily traveled” eastbound lanes. This involved the removal of existing asphalt pavement and, if necessary, the structural base material may also be replaced at pre-determined locations.

“After the rehab of the base material at specific locations, a complete overlay of the entire 8.6-kilometer stretch of the SFEX would be carried out and to complete the repair, new thermoplastic pavement marking would be installed,” Bautista said. Journal online

BCDA proposes P2.49/km toll on new expressway

Officials of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) said Tuesday that a toll of P2.49 per kilometer is likely to be imposed on motorists who will use the 93.77-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), which opens on March 15 next year.

BCDA executive vice president Isaac Puno Jr. told reporters that the P2.49 per kilo­meter toll will be presented to the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) for approval.

Robert Gervacio, BCDA program manager for operational support services, said the proposed toll was based on computations that considered the length of the expressway and the loan obtained by the BCDA for the expressway project, among other factors.

"It’s the likely rate to be implemented," he said.

Puno said the toll computation will not be affected by the depreciating US dollar since the loan for the SCTEX was in Japanese yen from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

BCDA engineers reported during the conference that the entire project, costing $376.7 million, is now 91.5 percent complete and that unless defects are found in some parts of the expressway, it is expected to be opened to motorists by March 15 next year.

Puno said the bidding for the management and operations of the expressway is expected to start by the middle of next year.

For a six-month interim period, however, the BCDA awarded the SCTEX operations to the consortium of the First Philippine Tollways, Tollways Management and Aegis.

"We don’t expect traffic volume in the Subic-Clark segment of the expressway to be as heavy as the Clark-Tarlac segment, so I suppose there will be losses in the Subic-Clark segment that will have to be compensated by the other segment," said Ger­vacio.

The Subic-Clark stretch is about 50.5 kilometers long. The four-lane stretch will have four interchanges in Florida­blanca, Porac, Angeles City and Clark in Pampanga, and three major bridges. It is being done by the Japanese KOJM joint venture at a cost of P12.7 billion.

On the other hand, the Clark-Tarlac segment, costing P8.7 billion, will also have four asphalt-concrete lanes stretching 43.27 kilometers with seven interchanges and one major bridge. Its contractor is the Japanese HTN joint venture.

By DING CERVANTES - The Philippine Star

San Fernando economic doom feared

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Local officials here fear that the city would suffer economic setbacks once the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) operates without the proposed GMA-Porac Interchange between the boundaries of Porac town and Angeles City.

San Fernando Councilor Alex Patio, a second-term legislator, has begun an information drive among civil societies in the component city to solicit support for the interchange, with other interest groups trying to block for their own proposed interchanges.

Speaking before the San Fernando Cabalen Lions Club last week, Patio said while many areas in Central Luzon stand to benefit from SCTEx, the component city will more likely to be bypassed by the development because of the toll road.

“This will be so if we will not put our acts together to enjoin the National Government to push through with the construction of the GMA-Porac Interchange, which had already been promised by the President during her recent visit,” Patio said.

He explained that motorists from Metro Manila or northern provinces going to Subic would opt to use SCTEx through the Mabalacat interchanges to save travel time. At present, this city is probably the best route to and from Zambales.

With more vehicles passing through the Jose Abad Santos Avenue (Jasa), economic activities in the highway once called Gapan-San Fernando-Olongapo (GSO) Road have flourished to the benefit of Fernandinos.

Patio said the GMA-Porac Interchange, proposed by the Advocacy for the Development Central Luzon (ADCL), has given the city high hopes of getting its share on the economic cycle to be kicked-off by the toll road. The GMA-Porac Interchange has a direct access to this city, although Manila North Road and the East Lateral portion of the FVR Megadike.

Patio implored the Lions Club, with its newly installed president Manolo Flores, to help in the advocacy that will spare the city from the economic downturn due to the loss of an access to the new road.

Earlier, the San Fernando City Council, through the prodding of Councilor Reden Halili, passed a resolution supporting the proposal of ADCL for the construction of the GMA-Porac Interchange.

Kapampangan civic leaders, after learning that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has approved the proposed interchange, thought it appropriate to call that SCTEx ingress or egress as GMA-Porac Interchange.

Patio, to further capitalize on the expressways -- North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) passes through the city -- is also proposing the construction of service roads outside the fences of Nlex to provide more alternate routes to mitigate traffic. (ABL)

The politics of interchanges

SunStar Editorial

THE construction of an interchange along Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway or SCTEx is now officially a controversial one.

Over the weekend, one group composed of no less than Governor Ed Panlilio, City of San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez, business leader Rene Romero and a slew of businessmen and professionals met to make it known to all and sundry their position on the interchange issue. It is supporting strongly the proposed interchange at the Manuali portion (Porac) of SCTEx.

The particular interchange was the one approved by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and so it was aptly dubbed GMA-Porac interchange, probably to scare off others who have different proposals.

For the record, Senator Manuel Lapid has proposed the original Porac interchange, not in Manuali area, for sure, and which apparently was approved in principle by the President who mentioned it in her State of the Nation Address (Sona) last July.

Come now the honorable Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development (SCAD) and Congressman Carmelo Lazatin who have come up with another proposal for an interchange somewhere in Angeles City.

In the weekend briefing before the Panlilio-Rodriguez-Romero group, Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) chairman Narciso Abaya Jr. made it clear and certain that among the three proposed interchanges, the one likely to materialize is the one with the President’s initials on it.

And he was not simply being politically correct, although that argument counts much if not the most, even if he did not admit it.

It’s not just that the President has already issued an official directive to BCDA that the Manuali site should be where the GMA-Porac interchange should be. And Abaya has declared that he has no intention whatsoever of risking being fired by his boss for not following her instructions.

The Manuali site is the most ideal of the all the competing locations vis-à-vis the proposals of Senator Lapid and Secretary Pamintuan and Congressman Lazatin.

By ideal, he meant less cost, less technical difficulty and less of other problems that BCDA would want to face to do its job of building an interchange at SCTEx.

It doesn’t also help -- and this one did not come from Abaya but from one of the leaders of the group -- that Senator Lapid reportedly has 60 hectares near his proposed interchange. Ditto Secretary Pamintuan, who reportedly owns about 30 hectares near the Margot area where he and Congressman Lazatin would want BCDA to build an interchange.

Aside from the perceived vested interest of the proponents, the problem with the Margot proposal, is that it will compromise the building of another runway near that area for the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport.

The last has not been heard on this issue, what with the other proponents apparently bent on politically muscling their way for their favored interchanges. Somehow, building interchanges along the SCTEx, especially in the President’s home province, is too important to be left to engineers and technocrats.

Politicians want more than just being heard. They want to have the last say.

Japanese engineer rejects GMA interchange in Pampanga

By Tonette Orejas - Central Luzon Desk

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga -- The Japanese resident engineer of the national flagship project Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway disapproved the construction of an interchange at the Porac-Angeles City boundary that the President approved in August, said the chair of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development Council.

"The [Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon] area is not suitable for the interchange because the resident engineer, Mr. [Masayoshi] Komagamine, did not approve of the interchange because the distance between the two [Pasig-Potrero and Sapang Bato] bridges where the interchange of ADCL is located, is narrow," SCADC chair, Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan, told the Inquirer on Saturday.

Komagamine's supposed position against the ADCL site in Barangay (village) Manuali in Porac could not be confirmed.

Narciso Abaya, president and chief executive of the Bases Conversion Development Authority, the proponent of the SCTEx, has not replied to a query on Komagamine's stand.

Abaya had told Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio, San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez, ADCL, and Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry leaders in a forum here last Friday that the Manuali site was "probably the best compromise among competing locations."

"My stand is personal. The most compelling reason for me is that this was the directive of the President to me," Abaya had said.

Vice Governor Joseller Guiao, who lobbied together with the ADCL for the Manuali site, doubted if Komagamine actually turned down that location.

"The BCDA will not approve it if the Japanese consultant has not approved it. The BCDA is preparing plans for it. It will be the first to know [if the area is suitable or not]," Guiao said when reached by phone.

Guiao said the Manuali site has been supported by legislative councils in San Fernando and Angeles cities.

"The President herself issued a directive. No other person can reverse the President except herself," Guiao said, referring to the directive publicly announced by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the ground-breaking rites of the Texas Instruments in Clark on August 16.

Pamintuan said he, Senator Manuel "Lito" Lapid, and Pampanga Representative Carmelo Lazatin are lobbying for two interchanges. Lapid's proposed site is in Planas in his hometown Porac. Pamintuan and Lazatin want an interchange at Friendship/Margot.

According to Pamintuan, the projects have the support of Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., Presidential Management Staff Director General Cerge Remonde, National Economic and Development Authority Director General Tito Santos, and civic organizations in Angeles City and Porac.

Constructing those two interchanges would not require the BCDA and the national government for that matter to shell out public lands to buy right-of-way from private landowners, he said.

According to him, Lapid had convinced the Puyat family to donate some lands at Planas. Pamintuan denied owning a 33-hectare land at Margot.

ADCL chair Rene Romero said many of the landowners from Manuali to Angeles City have "signified their intention to help the government by donating some portions of their lands to spur development in their communities."

Abaya had said that the original proposed interchanges were scrapped on the Pampanga side due to lack of funds and technical considerations for the safety standards of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark. He said the BCDA was going to spend P280 to P290 million for the Manuali interchange.

Pamintuan, who claimed he was pushing for a "win-win solution," wanted the locations to be chosen on the basis of a technical assessment. For the two interchanges, he said the BCDA could afford to spend P400 million. The BCDA, however, was seeking another loan for the P27-billion SCTEx.

"Even if the BCDA agrees to the Manuali site, we can present to the President an acceptable project for our people in Pampanga. I don't want to be blamed when the people in Angeles City start protesting," said Pamintuan, a former mayor of the city. Angeles, he said, was more populous and has a bigger business sector.

He said residents in San Fernando, the province's capital city and which is 30 km from Clark, have three routes to the SCTEx. These are the Clark circumferential road, the North Luzon Expressway that heads toward the Mabalacat spur road, and Lapid's proposed interchange in Planas.

Rodriguez and Panlilio want an interchange at Manuali to link San Fernando, eastern and southern Pampanga towns to the SCTEx as access to the Subic and Clark free ports.

Pols interfere with design of SCTEx

By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer

A battle for interchanges has erupted at the national flagship project Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, with Sen. Manuel “Lito” Lapid, Subic-Clark Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan and Pampanga Rep. Carmelo Lazatin pushing for their respective sites to replace the one already approved by President Macapagal-Arroyo at the Porac-Angeles City boundary in August.

But Narciso Abaya, president and chief executive officer of the Bases Conversion Development Authority, the proponent of the SCTEx, is “sticking by the President’s directive.”

“This is probably the best compromise among competing locations. My stand is personal. The most compelling reason for me is that this was the directive of the President to me,” Abaya told San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez and businessmen on Friday.

Abaya was referring to the planned interchange in Barangay Manuali in Porac town that the Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon had proposed.

Legislative councils in Pampanga, San Fernando and Angeles cities have endorsed the location in respective resolutions.

That site will be linked to a planned 6.4-km road leading either to a road on the eastern FVR Megadike toward the Pampanga capital city of San Fernando, and toward Angeles via the existing Cauayan Road. The SCTEx side heads to Porac and Angeles City as well.

Abaya said Secretary Cerge Remonde, director-general of the Presidential Management Staff, had directed him, through an Aug. 23 memorandum, to submit an implementation plan for that interchange.

Rodriguez and Gov. Eddie Panlilio have pushed for the interchange in Manuali to connect San Fernando and southern and eastern Pampanga towns to the SCTEx.

“San Fernando is the regional government center, the banking center, the gateway to many provinces in Central Luzon. It shouldn’t be isolated from the SCTEx and the opportunities these will give to the people, especially the business sector. The national government saved San Fernando in 1995 from lahar. It shouldn’t be left out now,” Rodriguez said.

He said this was within the local government’s vision to make San Fernando the global gateway by 2015.

Panlilio thanked the national government, especially Ms Arroyo and the BCDA for consulting with and listening to the people in this issue.

Abaya explained in the forum that the original interchanges in Floridablanca, Porac and Angeles had been scrapped. This was after the previous BCDA administration entered into negotiated contracts after the bidding failed because the proposals were higher the approved construction budget for the 94-km, P27-billion expressway.

Further technical and financial studies showed those interchanges were not feasible. The Angeles Friendship interchange is located at the end of the runway of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark. “Building an interchange there would render the airport useless. And to build one there would cost P1 billion,” Abaya said.

The Porac interchange was dumped because there were no ready roads connected to it. Another proposed interchange in Margot, also in Angeles City, was not also possible because this would be near the planned alternative runway of the proposed Clark Logistics hub. This, Abaya said, would entail building a bridge amid rolling terrain.

Progress in Subic-Clark-Tarlac road project cited

By Albert B. Lacanlale - SunStar

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Pampanga Provincial Board (PB), led by Vice Governor Joseller Guiao, cited the progress achieved so far in the construction of the P21-billion Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), adding that this is being accomplished under the over-all leadership of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The SCTEx, being constructed by the state-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), is a 93.77-km stretch connecting the Subic and Clark freeports and the burgeoning commercial centers in Tarlac.

Is former President Joseph Estrada guilty or not guilty of plunder charges? Post your comments here.

In a tour and briefing organized and hosted by the BCDA, Guiao thanked President Arroyo for giving Pampanga and Central Luzon the opportunity for accelerated economic growth through her flagship project. The briefing was attended by PB members and a business-led non-government organization Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon (ADCL).

“The SCTEx will become one of President Arroyo’s future legacies, not only to Pampanga, but to the greater Central Luzon and the entire country,” Guiao said.

He said: “I cannot wait to see the opening, witness the development around our highways, and expect the inflow of local and foreign tourists, as well as businessmen coming in to make investments.”

Guiao cited the BCDA for the “professional way” it organized the tour and visit of the PB and ADCL.

He said they now “better appreciate the fact that, while there are problems, these same problems are now being addressed by the BCDA, and taking prompt steps to resolve them.”

He, however, reminded the BCDA and the Japanese contractors “not to lower their guard” in ensuring a quality highway.

BCDA executive vice president Isaac Puno, for his part, noted that the newly forged partnership and “critical collaboration” between BCDA on one hand and the PB/ADCL, on the other, will support the project and ensure that SCTEx is built according to world-class quality standards.

“The partnership BCDA has forged today with the LGU, private sector and civil society is a good example of critical collaboration in support of SCTEx,” Puno said.

SCTEx delay worsens as Japan firm seeks new extension

By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer

CLARK FREEPORT—The national flagship project Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) has suffered another deadline snag.

This happened as Hazama-Taisei-Nippon Steel Joint Venture (HTN) sought a 54-day extension, beginning Aug. 18, to finish the 44-kilometer Pampanga-Tarlac portion of the 94-km highway, according to an Inquirer source in Malacañang.

HTN, according to its contract, is supposed to finish that segment by Aug. 30. The entire road, worth P21 billion, is being built on a loan from the Japanese government.

The board of directors of the Bases Conversion Development Authority, the SCTEx’s proponent, met on Tuesday to discuss HTN’s request for more time, a BCDA source said.

The Palace source did not say how much money the HTN was claiming in its “arbitration case” against the BCDA. Another source said it amounted to about P500 million to cover the cost of accelerating the works.

HTN project Kunio Kimata on Tuesday did not answer the Inquirer’s calls.

BCDA president Narciso Abaya did not reply to Inquirer’s calls and text messages sent to his mobile phone.

Pacific Consultants International-Katahira and Engineers International-Nippon Koei Ltd. (PCI-KEI-NK), the project’s consultant, has reportedly ruled that HTN was “entitled” to the extension because of the “late delivery of right-of-way” at the spur road junction of the North Luzon Expressway.

That pertained to some 800 square meters of land in Mabalacat, Pampanga, which the BCDA claimed through an expropriation case against landowners who were selling that property at 10 times the old rate of P1,000 per square meter.

The source said the Pampanga-Tarlac side was over 95-percent complete as of last week, and the remaining works involved the correcting of defects and repair of damages from recent typhoons.

A Japanese engineer had sent text messages to the Inquirer as early as May to report about the “improper design of slope protection.”

The engineer said “consultant engineers hesitated to change [the design] because it [would] affect [the] completion date [and the project would be] delayed for six to eight months.”

The same source later said they were “instructed to repair damaged area in [an] improper manner [by] just covering [it] with soil without compaction.”

“[The] consultant’s concern [is] only [to complete it] on time. We don’t like to sacrifice quality,” he said.

HTN’s claim came after it withdrew its “Claim for Extension of Time No. 2” dated March 29.

Tetsuro Marui, Hazama general manager for international division, flew in from Tokyo to assure the BCDA that the consortium’s part would be finished on time, Abaya had said in a statement on April 16.

SCTEx’s other contractor, Kajima-Obayashi-JFE Engineering and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. Joint Venture (KOJM), was allowed by President Macapagal-Arroyo in July to get a four-month extension up to March 2008 at no direct cost to the Philippine government.

Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan, chair of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development Council, said he recommended the extension since Philippine agencies were equally liable for the delay in KOJM’s works.

However, an official involved in projects in Subic and Clark free ports assailed the government for constantly adjusting the completion dates and not charging the Japanese contractors liquidated damages at a cost of P5.1 million for every day of delay.

Clark-Tarlac segment of SCTEP to be operational by October

With the completion of the 43.27-kilometer Clark-Tarlac segment of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project (SCTEP) this October, the government gets closer to realizing a globally competitive Central Luzon.

Robert Gervacio, Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway project program manager for operational support services, said the tourism industry would be the immediate beneficiary of the expressway project.

More local and foreign tourists will be enticed to visit, particularly Baguio and Ilocos areas, because of reduced travel time. This would mean more time for them to spend for recreational activities.

“The expressway will also facilitate easy movement of goods to Manila because a lot of products come from the North ­-vegetables from Benguet, fish from Pangasinan and other products from Ilocos region,” he said. “This will be translated to more savings and higher income for the entrepreneur.”

The SCTEP will link key infrastructure facilities, as well as commercial, industrial and tourism centers of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Clark Special Economic Zone, and the Central Techno Park in Tarlac.

Together, these economic zones comprise 100,000 hectares fit for commercial, industrial and tourism development.

Gervacio said with these, they expect more investors to put in their money, particularly in the Luisita industrial park because of the benefits to be offered by the expressway project.

“For the locators, it will be also easy to transport goods and products. Because we are developing Clark as a logistics hub, it could serve as storage of goods to be transported out of the country,” he said.

Among the industries that may possibly rise within the Subic, Clark and Luisita Industrial Park are those in the information technology, food services, manpower services, tourism and recreation, education, telecommunications, medicine and agro-industries.

The completion of the 50.5-kilometer Subic-Clark portion by March next year, together with the Subic seaport, would further boost North Luzon’s chances of luring in more investors, speed up commerce and boost tourism.

With the Subic seaport, cargo shipments would no longer have to pass through the ports of Singapore and Kaoshung in order to offload onto smaller ships that the Manila pier can service.

This means that the Philippines would have its first international transshipment hub, reducing shipment costs by as much as 30 percent and significantly cutting down travel time, according to Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) data.

Together, the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport , the seaport in Subic and the SCTEP will create a portal by which the Central Luzon will be able to trade directly with the international market without having the need to content with the choking bottlenecks in Metro Manila.

Gervacio said the influx of investments is expected to generate more jobs.

He cited Korea’s Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction, the world’s fourth-largest shipping company, which would be needing thousand of welders for their Subic Freeport project.

Gervacio also expressed optimism the Philippine competitiveness ranking would improve as the country fully reaps the benefits of these infrastructure projects. (PNA)

Group wants Subic-Clark road run by private firms

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- An advocacy group that has been monitoring the completion of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) project is asking the government to let private firms manage the operation of the new highway.

The Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon (ADCL), a self-imposed watchdog of good governance and major infrastructure projects in Central Luzon, said for the toll highway to be maintained properly, a private firm should be assigned to take over the reins.

ADCL co-chairman for infrastructure development Renato Tayag Jr. issued the statement following reports that bidding for the operation and management of SCTEx failed. The toll road is expected to be operational late this year or early 2008.

Although there were several private firms and conglomerates gunning for the 10-year operation of the highway, reports of failed bidding for the same surfaced, sending a chilling effect to various groups, including ADCL, that have seen how the former North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) deteriorated before being managed by a private firm.

Tayag said the ADCL is concerned that if SCTEx will be operational and its operation and management is not awarded to a winning bidder, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), the lead proponent of the project, might be assigned to operate the tollway.

If this would be the case, the toll road might not serve its purpose for a long time, given the way government handles such infrastructures, he said.

The Nlex, he pointed out, is a clear example of how a private corporation can efficiently manage an infrastructure at no cost to the government.

The 93.77-kilometer SCTEx, reputedly the longest toll road in the country, is hoped to prime business in Luzon, particularly the Central Luzon plain where Pampanga is located.

Once operational, travel time along SCTEx would take only about 30 minutes from Clark to Subic, and 20 minutes from Clark to Tarlac.

The SCTEx is a flagship project of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and is among the mega infrastructures intended to transform Central and Northern Luzon into a super region.

The SCTEx was designed to serve as another catalyst for the economic growth of Central Luzon and the adjoining regions. This project is expected to create greater opportunities for investment, trade and employment.

Tayag said the long wait for the toll road should not end up in a way that the multibillion-peso project be put to naught due to poor management.

By Albert B. Lacanlale - SunStar

BCDA tells SCTEx contractors to buy new equipment

THE BASES Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) has called on the contractors of the P21-billion Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) to invest in modern equipment and additional resources to complete the project on schedule.

In a statement, Robert Gervacio, BCDA vice president and spokesperson, said that as of Feb. 7, work on the project had been delayed by 8.31 percent for Package 1 (Subic to Clark segment) and Package 2 (Clark to Tarlac segment) of the SCTEx.

The Kajima-Obayashi-JFE Engineering-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (KOJM) consortium is working on Package 1, while the Hazama-Taisei-Nippon Steel (HTN) joint venture is building Package 2.

The SCTEx is one of the government’s key projects in the Arroyo administration’s Luzon Urban Beltway super region.

The BCDA also warned the contractors that their contracts could be rescinded if the project incurs a negative slippage of 15 percent or more.

In the same statement, BCDA president Narciso Abaya said the agency was hopeful to complete the 93.7-km SCTEx by yearend despite the delay.

“There is still time to speed up the pace of project construction work,” he said.

Abaya, according to the statement, raised the problem on equipment lack and other operational concerns to Tokyo-based Kajima president Mitsuyo Nakamura through a letter sent in February last year.

The BCDA said similar letters were also sent to HTN officials, advising them to adhere to the provisions of their contract and implement catch-up plans so work on the SCTEx could be finished according to target dates.

Inspite of these, the Japanese contractors reportedly failed to upgrade their equipment, representing noncompliance with a contract provision mandating that 50 percent of the equipment to be used in the project should be new.

BCDA field engineers said most of the machines, owned by local sub-contractors, were old and inefficient, and often stalled.

Earlier, an engineer involved in the project told the Inquirer that the SCTEx might not be completed by November as construction firms failed to get complete control of right-of-way (ROW) sites due to protests arising from unresolved expropriation cases and unpaid land claims.

But BCDA officials shrugged off allegations that ROW issues were delaying work on the SCTEx. “These are minor problems that cannot derail the project,” they said. Inquirer Central Luzon