Ayala: Muntinlupa-Cavite expressway to open in Q1

MANILA, Philippines – The Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway, formerly known as Daang Hari-SLEX connector road, will open in the first quarter of 2015, Ayala Corp. said on Monday.

MCX, the administration’s first and smallest public private partnership project (PPP), will connect Muntinlupa City to Cavite via Bacoor.

Ayala said the project is now over 60 percent complete.

Ayala invested around P2.2 billion in the project and will operate and maintain the road for 30 eyars.

The toll rate is set at P17 for Class 1 vehicles and P34 for Class 2 vehicles.

The road project is expected to ease traffic along Daang Hari and in Alabang, and give commuters in Cavite easier road access to SLEX.

At the same time, AC Infrastructure Holdings executive vice president Noel Kintanar said Ayala is in talks with the operators of SLEX and Skyway to finalize an inter-operability agreement to allow for seamless travel.

“Currently finalizing the inter-operability agreement. Both SLEX and Skyway have their own clearing operations and this is what we are currently discussing,” Kintanar said.

Kintanar expects the agreement to be finalized before the opening of the MCX.

“Right now it is just cleaning up the details with the SLEX and Skyway team. We are confident that we will be able to sign this before the opening of the road in the first quarter,” he said.

The MCX is a new four-kilometer four-lane toll road from the junction of Daang Reyna and Daang Hari in Las Piñas and Bacoor, Cavite to SLEX through the Susana Heights Interchange in Muntinlupa, traversing the New Bilibid Prison Reservation.

It was originally supposed to be completed last June, but it faced delays due to interconnection problems with SLEX.

Ayala has signed an agreement with SLTC, which paved the way for the construction of the interchange linking the toll road to SLEX.