NLEX to pursue dialogue with Valenzuela Mayor Gatchalian after business permit suspension

NLEX Corporation, the operator of North Luzon Expressway, on Tuesday said it will implement several measures and have a dialogue with the local government of Valenzuela after the city government suspended its business permit over the RFID mess that caused heavy traffic in the city.

On Monday afternoon, Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian officially served the city government’s suspension of NLEX’s business permit. 

Gatchalian said toll gate barriers would be raised because the expressway should remain open even with the suspension of the business permit.

Toll will not be collected at the following toll plazas:

• Karuhatan-Mindanao Avenue
• Karuhatan-Harbor Link
• Karugatan Harbor Link MacArthur Highway Exit
• Mindanao Avenue Toll Plaza
• Paso de Blas toll Plaza
• Lawang Bato Northbound entry toll booth

The Valenzuela mayor served the suspension order after NLEX failed to meet the 5 p.m. deadline to resolve issues hounding the cashless payment system. 

NLEX senior vice president for Communications Atty. Romulo Quimbo maintained that toll fee collection falls under the jurisdiction of the national government.

With this, NLEX Corporation president J. Luigi Bautista in a statement said the tollways firm “will continue to pursue a series of consultations and dialogues with the Valenzuela Mayor in good faith.”

Bautista said the company will implement several measures to resolve the Valenzuela issue “to protect its customers and stakeholders.”

“We are reviewing the situation and are doing everything necessary to address the issues,” he said, noting amicable and cooperative initiatives between the tollway company and the City of Valenzuela.

“We are working to eliminate the inconvenience caused to our customers by the new compulsory tollway cashless transaction system using RFID that is required by the Department Order of the Department of Transportation (DOTr),” he said.

December 1, the first day of the shift to the cashless system at NLEX, was marred by heavy traffic. 

NLEX acknowledged the mandated 100% cashless toll implementation has experienced “birth pains” that unfortunately resulted in technical problems in some instances.

“These glitches that are occurring at the toll booths are simply a result of some adjustments that should be expected because the RFID implementation took effect only eight days ago,” Bautista said.

However, he said that NLEX assured all stakeholders that their concerns being raised in various mass and social media channels are being heard and addressed as a top priority.  

“It is accelerating the solutions to make it more convenient for the public to adjust to the new RFID system,” according to Bautista.

Gatchalian on Tuesday said the duration of the suspension of the NLEX Corporation's business permit would depend on how soon the latter will act on the complaints against them. —KG, GMA News