When heading south means looking up

SOUTH Luzon Tollways Corp. (SLTC) president Isaac David is eagerly awaiting the completion of the rehabilitation of the South Luzon Expressway (Slex). He is also looking forward to the time when he can live in the suburbs and still experience smooth travel on the way to work in Makati.

“At present, it takes more than an hour to report to the office from my home in Quezon City. When the rehabilitation of Slex is finished, I think I can live in the southern part and still be able reach Makati in 30 to 40 minutes,” said David in an interview with the media at SLTC’s office in Makati.

David said property developers in the area are also looking forward to a modernized Slex in anticipation of growth in that portion of Southern Luzon. “Developers are awaiting for the completion of the Slex because this will hasten the movement of goods and services,” he said.

According to David, Slex will widen the road from an eight-lane to a 10-lane expressway from Santa Rosa to Calamba, with a cost of P3 billion to P4 billion.

Just like David, real-estate developers will surely wait for the day when Slex will be 100-percent finished. Some 7,000 hectares are being developed by different property developers in the area.

“The existing road network needs expansion and it will take three to four years to complete,” he said.

“The timing is perfect, as the volume of traffic in Slex will increase immensely in four years,” added David.

Among the prominent players which have huge investments in the area are Ayala Land Inc., Eton Properties, Greenfield and Carmelray.

Ayala Land Inc.’s Nuvali is a major development in the area. A collaboration between Ayala Land and the Yulo family, Ayala said Nuvali transforms the 1,700-hectare property in Laguna into the first sustainably developed eco-community in the Philippines.

Tycoon Lucio Tan’s Eton City is the flagship horizontal project of Eton Properties Philippines Inc. With a size close to 1,000 hectares, Eton City is envisioned to be the Makati of the South.

The Campos group’s Greenfield is also an active player in the area. Its first project was the Paseo de Santa Rosa, which it finished in 1998. The Pramana Residential Park is the latest offering of Greenfield.

Carmelray Industrial Park 1 (CIP1), a sprawling 230-hectare, fully integrated industrial estate of international standards in Canlubang, Laguna, plays host to several locators in its special export-processing zone.

The rehabilitation of Slex entails the widening of the existing 28.5-km eight-lane expressway from Alabang to Calamba, Laguna. It also includes the construction of a 7.6-kilometer extension connecting Laguna to Santo Tomas, Batangas, linking Slex to the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road, or STAR.

So far, David said SLTC has invested P12 billion in upgrading the road network. SLTC is 80-percent owned by Malaysian firm MTD Capital Berhad and 20 percent by Philippine National Construction Corp.

img c/o carranz