Apart from ‘Shocking’ 300% Toll-Fee Hike, Philippines Has to Account for Dramatic Jump in SLEX Project Cost

Apart from ‘Shocking’ 300% Toll-Fee Hike, Philippines Has to Account for Dramatic Jump in SLEX Project Cost

 By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — It’s not just the exorbitant toll-fee increase, it’s the project itself that’s anomalous.

Last January 7, anti-corruption advocate and lawyer Ernesto Francisco filed a formal request for investigation with the Office of the Ombudsman on the issue of the 300-percent toll hike at the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX). According to Francisco, the South Luzon Toll Corp., which operates the expressway, is using the multibillion project cost for the expansion and improvement of the expressway as a reason for raising toll fees. The projected cost is the primary basis for the 300-percent toll hike.
 

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Francisco said that that the South Luzon Toll Corp., the SLEX investor Malaysian company MTD Capital Berhad and the Toll Regulatory Board, which allowed the toll-fee increase, should be compelled to explain why the project cost

ballooned to P12.5 billion from a much smaller P5.88 billion a few years ago. He said the massive increase should not have been allowed without a review by the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Commission on Audit.

The Toll Regulatory Board is the agency that regulates all toll roads in the Philippines. It was created via Presidential Decree No. 1112 or the Toll Operation Decree, and has regulatory authority over all toll facilities in the country. According to its charter, it is authorized to enter into contracts on behalf of the government, with qualified persons, natural or juridical, for the construction, operation and maintenance of toll facilities. It exercises jurisdiction over the toll facilities of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX); the SLEX,; the Manila-Cavite Expressway (Coastal Road);  the South Metro Manila Skyway (Skyway); the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (Star Tollway); and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX).

The South Luzon Expressway: Anti-poor imposition. (Photo by Mithril Cloud / skyscrapercity)

According to Francisco, the Office of the Ombudsman should immediately investigate whether or not the Toll Regulatory Board and the South Luzon Toll Corp. complied with the provisions of Letter of Instructions No. 579, which states that all plans and specifications for any proposed extension projects of the Manila North and/or Manila South Expressways be first subject to the review and approval of the the Department of Public Works and Highways before the Toll Regulatory Board decides to recommend or not to the president the construction of such a project..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/01/13/apart-from-%E2%80%98shocking%E2%80%99-300-toll-fee-hike-philippines-has-to-account-for-dramatic-jump-in-slex-project-cost/