Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) recently broke ground on two critical link road projects aimed at improving traffic, allowing motorists to bypass busy city centers and, in the process, alleviate traffic in and around the southern cities of Metro Manila and the cities of the province of Cavite that border the National Capital Region.

Present at the ground-breaking were President Bongbong Marcos and MPTC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, together with the president’s transport-related cabinet members as well as MPTC executives.

The first link road is the CAVITEX-C5 Link Road (or Section 3B as it is known internally). This is a 2km, six-lane road that connects to the C5 Road in Taguig on the eastern end and to the Parañaque section of CAVITEX on the west, bypassing many inner city roads.

MPTC says it expects people traveling between Cavite and Taguig as the greatest beneficiaries of this road. The total contract price for Section 3B is pegged at P3.3 billion, and will be built by DMCI Construction Corporation. Target completion date is August 2025, just over a year from now.

The second link road project is the CAVITEX-CALAX Link Extension, a 1.3km, four-lane section that connects the CALAX Terminus in Kawit to CAVITEX.

This will decongest traffic around Tirona Highway and Centennial Road in Kawit, and also speed up travel time between Laguna and Cavite as it bypasses many busy national highways. EEI Corporation is in charge of the development of this project.

The CAVITEX-C5 Segment 3B Link Road Project already has 70.60% right-of-way acquisition status, while the CAVITEX-CALAX Link Extension already enjoys an even bigger 77.14% right-of-way acquisition status.

Hopefully, we’ll see better traffic improvement, decongested inner city and municipal roads, and faster, more convenient travel time in the next 12-18 months down south.