By Charissa Luci-Atienza  The House Committee on Transportation has been urged to conduct an investigation on the P20.45 billion allegedly overpriced Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway (NAIAx). Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate urged his colleagues to look into the overpriced Public-Private Partnership project, which was entered into by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Vertex Tollways Development Inc., an affiliate of San Miguel Corp. Under the concession agreement, the government shouldered P6.45 billion of the total project cost, while the private concessionaire paid government premiums amounting to P11 billion, he said. “For an expressway covering less than 15 kilometers, the cost amounting to P20.45 billion is apparently too expensive,” Zarate said in filing House Resolution 1268. “With what seems to be an overpriced project, the approved toll rates now levied on commuters become unreasonable,” he said, noting that an average toll rate per kilometer ranges from P2 to P10. He said based on NAIAx’s toll schedule, the rate per kilometre ranges from P11 to P28 (full route) and P7.44 to P22.13 (short segment), depending on the vehicle class. “It is imperative for the House of Representatives to investigate for possible acts of misfeasance in approving a seemingly overpriced project that resulted in expensive toll rates, and, to further determine why such questionable project was eventually approved without much scrutiny,” Zarate said. The NAIAx, which was completed in June this year, provides for a four-lane elevated expressway (main viaduct), measuring 4.7 kilometers starting at the end point of Phase I and ending at PAGCOR Entertainment City. Aside from the main viaduct, the project also consists if 16 ramps totaling 7.95 kilometers and a 2.2-kilometer ground level road that will provide access to and from the Entertainment City.