SMC Infrastructure

 New expressway spurs tourism and growth potential in Northern Luzon

By Earl D.C. Bracamonte

The Pangasinan Link Expressway (PLEX), when completed, will further hasten in-land travel time to, from, and around Northern Luzon. In the province of Pangasinan alone, tourist destinations like the Hundred Islands as well as pilgrim sites like the Manaoag Church will be much more accessible to travelers sojourning to, what once was, destinations that needed more time reaching.

During a media conference at the Sison Auditorium in Lingayen, Pangasinan governor Ramon Guico III and SMC president/CEO Ramon S. Ang inked an agreement for a joint venture and toll concession, wherein the PLEX will be totally owned by the province after 35 years.

"This is our way of re-inventing the traveling terrain and contour in Pangasinan. We want a systemized, comprehensive approach in navigating through Pangasinan by creating a road map never before imagined to be possible. We will also be building the Bolinao airport. This is bolstered by land connectivity with the expressway. Tourism comes to the province, plus our new ports will create more travel links. We may also revive the railway system because right of way is still in place.

"The PLEX is a major infrastructure project that re-invents the transportation landscape, prioritizes accessibility of citizens to major towns and cities, magnifies business and livelihood opportunities, multiplies economic activities, build more useful infrastructures, facilitates in-land travel, and protects our environmental resources. By 2025, the province will be producing 1,000-megawatt of solar energy from farms in Western Pangasinan that will greatly help in our energy requirements.

"Our agenda is to secure a safe, stable, sustainable future! This is our road to progress for posterity. This is our way of increasing our inland connectivity through North Luzon to facilitate the movement of people, goods and services, and our answer to the problem of traffic congestion. Expropriation proceedings might be needed to facilitate right of way acquisitions," enthused Gov. Guico III in his speech.

PLEX stretches the travel landmarks from the easternmost to the westernmost towns of Pangasinan, traversing through the center; thereby cutting travel time.

"After EDSA '86, when I joined San Miguel Corporation (SMC), there were lots of SMC investments here including food processing. TPLEX has, in fact, appreciated land value around it from a measly P50 per square meter to its current price of P 800.

"Pangasinan is the seat of power in Central Luzon. The PLEX project is a 4-year plan. We have already employed a company to do the design, and who will facilitate right of way acquisitions as these are usually the problems you'll encounter in this kinds of venture.

"After acquiring right of way, the roads will rise and be completed as fast as 24 months," shared SMC president and CEO Ramon S. Ang.

With the pandemic restrictions fully lifted in most areas of the archipelago, including the entire North Luzon, this new connectivity development in accessibility to travel - combined with the speed of traversing from province to province within the central plains to the furthest points of the north - paints a rosy picture not just for tourists and travelers but moreso for enterprises who will enjoy patronage along the way.