Investment and job opportunities in the province are seen to get a boost as the construction of the Pangasinan Link Expressway (PLEX) begins after the groundbreaking ceremony here Thursday.
“It will serve as a backbone of the province in terms of ease of travel and accessibility. If we are able to construct it, it will open many doors to other towns and cities. There will be growth in investment, jobs created, the ease of travel in and out of the province,” Pangasinan Governor Ramon Guico III said after the groundbreaking and unveiling of the marker.
The ceremony was done five months after officials of Pangasinan’s provincial government and San Miguel Holdings Corp. (SMHC) signed the joint venture and tollway concession agreements for the construction of the PHP34 billion 42.76-km. expressway project phase one. Funded by SMHC, it will connect the province’s eastern and western parts.
Guico said other major infrastructure projects like the Bolinao airport and upcoming seaport projects are anchored on the construction of the PLEX.
San Miguel Corp. president and chief executive officer Ramon Ang, in his speech during the program, said the road construction would bring economic growth along its way, citing as an example the impact of the Tarlac-Pangasinan Expressway (TPLEX) on the economy of the towns and cities it passes through.
He said the value of land in Binalonan, Pangasinan cost about PHP200 per square meter before the construction of the expressway but has increased to about PHP2,500 per square meter a couple of years after TPLEX was built.
He said PLEX would also connect to TPLEX and provide access to the planned New Manila International Airport in Bulacan.
The PLEX phase one has three main sections – the 7-km. stretch from Binalonan to Manaoag, the 11.3-km. stretch from Manaoag to Calasiao, and the 22.1-km. stretch from Calasiao to Lingayen, which will also have a 2.4-km. spur road in Calasiao town.
Ang said the project’s phase 2 would extend to Alaminos City as demand increases.
Once completed within the targeted four- to five-year construction period, the first phase of the expressway is expected to shorten travel time from the TPLEX exit in Binalonan town to Lingayen from 90 minutes to just half an hour or less. By Hilda Austria
Article courtesy of the Philippine News Agency
