The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Pangasinan looks forward to boosting its local economy and attracting more tourists to their area as the planned 42.76-kilometer expressway linking the eastern and western sides of the province is underway.
About three kilometers of the P34-billion Pangasinan Link Expressway (PLEx) have already undergone backfilling to form part of the four-lane expressway that starts from Binalonan town to the capital Lingayen. The project is expected to be finished in four years.
During the groundbreaking ceremony, Pangasinan Gov. Ramon Guico III said the programs of the provincial government will be anchored on PLEx, a project bankrolled by San Miguel Corp. (SMC).
The public-private partnership initiative is seen to change Pangasinan’s inland connectivity to facilitate faster movement of people, commodities, and services. It will also connect the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx), providing direct access to the New Manila International Airport in Bulacan province.
“This expressway will serve as the backbone of economic and tourism development in the province,” Guico said in a speech during the ceremony. SMC President and Chief Executive Officer Ramon S. Ang graced the ceremony.
Guico added that the PLEx will be a game changer for Pangasinan as it will open many doors for other towns for business and jobs, and provide ease of travel inside and outside the province. Housing projects, hospitals, and business establishments will be built around PLEx.
On his part, Ang said this monumental project between SMC and the Pangasinan LGU will “drive economic development in the province”.
“This project is part of our commitment to improve the lives of our ‘kababayan’ by bringing jobs and opening economic development opportunities at no cost to the government,” Ang noted.
“The PLEx project affirms SMC’s affinity with and deep commitment to Pangasinan. We believe in the bigger potential of the province and its people, and that is why we continue to invest here,” Ang said.
The P34.34 billion first phase of the project runs for 42.67km and is divided into three segments. These include the 6.9-km Binalonan-Manaog section, the 11.3-km Manaog-Calasiao junction, and the 22.17-km Calasiao-Lingayen segment. A 2.39-km spur road will also be paved in Calasiao.
The Binalonan-Lingayen link is designed to reduce travel time between these towns to 30 minutes from about two hours.
Ang said the project’s second phase will extend the expressway to Alaminos City, home of the Hundred Islands National Park.