San Miguel Corp. (SMC) President Ramon S. Ang said well-designed infrastructure will help decongest cities, make trips faster and more economical and help reduce pollution caused by hours of stand-still traffic all over Metro Manila.
Ang said traffic and pollution in Metro Manila will worsen if “efficient, multi-purpose and future-ready infrastructure” is not built.
“It is not expressways that induce people to buy more cars. It is poor or insufficient public transportation, pollution, and even personal progress of people. The number of vehicles will continue to rise with or without PAREX [Pasig River Expressway project]. Traffic and pollution will worsen if we do not build efficient, multi-purpose, future-ready infrastructure such as the PAREX,” he said in a statement.
“Providing better, more efficient alternative public transport in the form of PAREX’s BRT [bus rapid transit] and other ongoing mass rail projects, will also lessen the use of cars. PAREX will also not be exclusive to vehicles. It will incorporate bicycle lanes and pedestrian areas, to provide a safer environment for people to use alternative ways of getting from one place to another.”
Ang also said SMC and Palafox Associates and Palafox Architecture Group Inc. have had initial discussions for a potential consulting agreement for the PAREX.
“Architect Palafox is one of the master-planners of one of our major projects and in our regular meetings with him, he has expressed strong belief in the need to increase accessibility between the eastern and western corridors of Metro Manila as part of a broader strategy towards decongesting Metro Manila, and easing the many negative impacts of traffic,” he said.
“There is no formal engagement with Arch Palafox, but we have been in discussion, something that we have been very clear from the start—that we want him to help us do PAREX right.”
Last week, SMC announced that it signed a supplemental toll operations agreement with the Department of Transportation and the Department of Public Works and Highways for the construction of PAREX.
The supplemental agreement gives SMC a 30-year franchise to build and operate the 19.4-kilometer Parex along the Pasig River banks within 36 months, connecting the eastern and western parts of the metropolis.
SMC will shoulder the P95-billion cost to build Parex, with no taxpayer or government money used.
Parex entails the construction of a 19.40-kilometer, six-lane elevated expressway along the banks of the river. This requires the river bed to be dredged and cleared of decades of debris and garbage, to attain its optimum depth and ensure the constant flow of water.
The expressway will start from Radial Road 10 (R10) in the City of Manila and end at a connection to the Southeast Metro Manila Expressway (SEMME), otherwise known as Circumferential Road 6 (C6). It is seen to reduce travel time from Manila to Rizal to just 15 minutes.
From R10, or the port area, it will have entry and exit points at the University Belt area, San Juan, Buendia, Mandaluyong, Makati, Rockwell, Edsa, Pioneer St., Bonifacio Global City, C5, before terminating at C6.
It is aims to provide an alternative and faster access to the country’s largest business districts—Makati, Ortigas, and Bonifacio Global City.