Thousands of commuters as well as the economy up North are expected to benefit from the recently-opened Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX).
During the opening of a portion of CLLEX last Thursday, July 15, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Vilar said around 11,200 motorists and commuters will profit from this toll-free project.
“Through this impact, we can now expect that the delivery of agricultural goods will improve drastically thus generating higher income for the farmers and will improve the socio-economic development of the regional growth pole cities of Tarlac and Cabanatuan contributing to the decongestion of major urban areas,” Villar added.
The four-lane expressway project connecting Tarlac and Nueva Ecija has been partially opened, particularly the first 18-kilometer portion of the expressway.
The entire project will not be charging motorists of any amount as it is funded by the General Appropriations Act (GAA), unlike other private-public partnership (PPP) projects that is funded through a partnership between the government and the private sector.
According to Undersecretary Emil Sadain, the partial opening includes the 4.10-km Tarlac Section, 6.40-km Rio Chico River Bridge Section, the 1.5-km Rio Chico Viaduct, and the Aliaga Section with up and down ramps at Guimba-Aliaga Road.
The remaining 10.3-km Cabanatuan Section under Contract Package 4 is already 88.7 percent complete, while the Zaragoza Interchange Section under Contract Package 5 is 26.9 percent complete.
Once fully opened, the expressway is expected to slash the usual travel time of 70 minutes between Tarlac City and Cabanatuan City to just 20 minutes. (With a report from Betheena Unite)