PNoy opens highway connecting Tarlac City to Paniqui

President Benigno Aquino III on Monday led the formal opening of Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX), calling it a splendid Christmas gift to all Filipinos who stand to benefit from it. 

 

"Projects like these undoubtedly open up more and more possibilities for our countrymen to engage in gainful productive and progressive livelihood. It is truly a splendid Christmas gift," Aquino said during his speech at the opening of the newly completed Tarlac City-Gerona-Paniqui Section of TPLEX, which brings to 23 kilometers the total length of the expressway that is now operational.

 

Aquino led the formal opening through an inaugural drive-through and unveiled the commemorative marker of the TPLEX section, the official Twitter account of state-run PTV 4 said.

 

The 88.85-kilometer TPLEX, one of several infrastructure projects in San Miguel Corp.'s portfolio and its first greenfield tollway project, is seen as a vital road project in Luzon, connecting the central and northern Luzon provinces to Manila and beyond through the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and the North Luzon Expressway.

 

It will traverse 17 towns and the cities of Tarlac and Urdaneta across the provinces of Tarlac, Pangasinan, La Union and Nueva Ecija.

 

Construction is ongoing on the 27-kilometer stretch from Paniqui to Moncada in Tarlac and to Carmen in Pangasinan.

 

Ramon Ang, president and chief operating officer of SMC, earlier said the remaining 25.83-kilometer section from Urdaneta to Rosario, La Union, will be completed in 2015, three years earlier than expected.  

 

"Government can do all of these in some point in time but the 'some point time' might take ten generations to accomplish. Together with the private partners who believe in the same vision we have then we will achieve the dream sooner rather than later," Aquino said on Monday.

 

"Kung di ninyo matupad ang inyong pangako na 2018 dahil napaaga wala hong sasama ang loob, maraming salamat na ho in advance," he added in jest. — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMA News