Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Clark Freeport will have access to SCTEx: agency
THE state-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) gave assurance that Clark Freeport Zone will definitely have direct access to Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).
The BCDA said the construction of Panday Pira Road, which serves as a vital link from SCTEx to the freeport through Clark North-B Interchange, would start as soon as the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) releases a supplementary loan for SCTEx.
SCTEx spokesman Robert Gervacio said work on Panday Pira Road would take at least four months.
Thus, Gervacio ruled out the possibility that Panday Pira access road could be completed in time for the scheduled opening of SCTEx in April this year.
He explained that deferment of work on Panday Pira Road was a strategic decision meant to streamline and rationalize certain components of the ongoing construction of the main SCTEx project.
As it was, some adjuncts of the 93.7-kilometer SCTEx were "scoped out" as an offshoot of reduction of the project cost to P21 billion.
Gervacio stressed that, like every stakeholder, the BCDA also wanted SCTEx to be completed on time "so that the people, particularly those in Central Luzon, could begin to receive the benefits of having a world-class, seamless highway."
"As much as we want construction work to go full steam ahead, there have been some constraints that prevented us from meeting our original deadlines," Gervacio said, adding that once completed, SCTEx would be worth the waiting.
He also called on the stakeholders to continue supporting the BCDA and the government in pushing SCTEx to full completion, instead of standing in the way of the road builders.
"It is now a matter of time before we open SCTEx to vehicular traffic. Having done that, we can focus on addressing the concerns of the public, particularly the motorists that would likely come up along the way," he said.
