Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda (Facebook)

Citing potential benefits to his region, a Bicol congressman has welcomed the Toll Regulatory Board’s (TRB) announcement that the final engineering design for the first segment of the South Luzon Expressway Toll Road 5 (TR5) is now set for approval.

According to Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda, the development paves the way for the start of actual works on the expressway.

The TRB recently announced that the final engineering design will cover the first segnemnt, from Lucena to Gumaca Quezon.

“Along with ongoing works for TR4, the Lucena-Gumaca segment will bring much-needed relief to commuters and truckers alike, and will reduce the cost of bring goods to Bicol significantly,” Salceda said.

“The lack of strong land transport links to Calabarzon effectively makes Bicol an island, which makes us vulnerable to stress on food and supply of other essential goods during emergencies. It also makes our supply chains with Manila very expensive to maintain,” Salceda added.

“For Albay, the most important linkage would be arterials to the Bicol Ecozone in Libon, which has already been approved by the PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) Board, and will be for proclamation probably this year," noted the economist-congressman.

"Once you have SLEX (South Luzon Expressway) and the Bicol Ecozone, plus DA’s (Department of Agriculture) planned agricultural super port there, food costs will go down for much of Albay, and we will have as many as 8,000 new manufacturing jobs, So, we will definitely pursue arterials from SLEX to Libon,” he said.

Salceda adds that the advantage of a toll road over the AH-26 is that “there is a continuous supply of funds for maintenance from toll fees".

“The perennial problems in Andaya Highway require consistent maintenance. The way the government does budgeting makes doing that very difficult. A toll operator is free to use set-aside funds to fix it roads, anytime.”

The Committee on Ways and Means chairman said that he will be suggesting that the Naga-Legazpi segment of the TR5 be pursued in parallel with the Lucena-Gumaca segment.

“The Naga- Legazpi portion has a catchment area of around 2.2 million people, including the two largest cities in South Luzon. I think RSA can pursue and operate that segment in advance, so that we don’t have to wait for completion of the emptier parts between Gumaca and Sipocot,” Salceda said.

“The tollroad segment will make the Bicol International Airport (BIA) much more accessible to Camarines Sur, which is very crucial for both BIA’s viability and for Naga,” he said.

The Bicol ecozone, Salceda adds, will also connect through better arterials with the proposed segment.

“I will be asking [Department of Transportation] Secretary Vince Dizon to explore this option, that we pursue this as soon as possible. It’s good for both cities, and I think it will move the needle positively for SLEX revenues as well,” he further said.