Construction of the P10.5-billion NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10, designed as a more convenient expressway route to Manila’s port areas, will start this month following the signing of the contract for the project’s civil works.
The contract for the 5.65-kilometer Segment 10, the second and last component of the NLEX Harbor Link, was signed last week between the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) and Leighton Contractors (Asia) Ltd.
Segment 10 will be an elevated roadway that links Segment 9 on MacArthur Highway in Malinta, Valenzuela City, to C3 Road (5th Avenue) in Grace Park, Caloocan City.
The segment is expected to improve freight movement and allow more trips for cargo trucks, via the alternative route to the ports that skirts Manila’s truck ban.
MNTC is a concessionaire of the North Luzon Expressway while Leighton is a Hong Kong-based construction company that MNTC contracted previously to build the 84- kilometer NLEX mainline and 2.7-km NLEX Mindanao Avenue Link Segment 8.1.
Segment 10, due for completion in 2016, is also expected to help decongest Metro Manila as it will offer motorists an alternative to the NLEX apart from EDSA/Balintawak and Mindanao Avenue.
With Segment 10, cargo trucks, buses and commercial vehicles need not use Metro Manila’s congested streets to access the NLEX. MNTC estimates that 30,000 vehicles are expected to use the new expressway daily.
Construction of the first segment of the NLEX Harbor Link, the 2.4-km Segment 9, is in full swing. Upon completion, the expressway will connect Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City directly to MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela City. The P1.59-billion road segment is scheduled to begin commercial operations by the third quarter of the year.
Photo from www.mntc.com
