3 weeks ago
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Elijah Felice Rosales - The Philippine Star
February 21, 2025 | 12:00am
MPCALA Holdings Inc. yesterday said it is close to reaching 40 percent completion for the 8.64-kilometer Governor’s Drive Interchange, one of the longest segments in CALAX.
Rudy Santos, File
MANILA, Philippines — The Metro Pacific Group is speeding up the pace in constructing the Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAX) to achieve its target of completing it this year.
MPCALA Holdings Inc. yesterday said it is close to reaching 40 percent completion for the 8.64-kilometer Governor’s Drive Interchange, one of the longest segments in CALAX.
As such, MPCALA expects to complete the Governor’s Drive Interchange in the second half of the year, providing motorists with a faster way to General Trias, Cavite.
As a whole, MPCALA is working on finishing the entire alignment of CALAX within the year. MPCALA officer in charge Elnora Rumawak said the tollway’s completion would ease travel to Cavite and Laguna and stimulate trade and travel in Southern Tagalog.
“We are committed to completing the entire stretch of CALAX by 2025. Its full opening will not only ease traffic and improve connectivity, but will also support economic growth by enhancing access to key areas in Cavite and Laguna,” Rumawak said.
To date, MPCALA has wrapped up more than 31 percent of the Kawit Interchange and almost 22 percent of the Open Canal Interchange.
Currently, CALAX is operational only until the Aguinaldo Interchange, which offers motorists a quicker way to tourist hotspot Tagaytay.
Once CALAX is completed, the tollway is seen unclogging some of the busiest thoroughfares in Southern Tagalog, such as Aguinaldo Highway and Governor’s Drive.
CALAX stretches for 44.58 kilometers in length from Mamplasan Rotunda to Kawit, Cavite, and will be linked to the Manila-Cavite Expressway, which is also run by the Metro Pacific Group. CALAX is projected to serve up to 95,000 motorists daily once finished.
The tollway will cut travel time from Biñan, Laguna to Kawit to just 35 minutes, from two hours at present. It will feature interchanges in the following: Laguna Technopark, Laguna Boulevard, Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay Road, Silang East, Aguinaldo, Governor’s Drive, Open Canal and Kawit.
CALAX was awarded to MPCALA a decade ago in 2015, but the concessionaire has struggled to wrap up the project on delays in right of way acquisition.
MPCALA is a unit of Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., which manages toll projects in Luzon and one in Visayas.
