Public Works Secretary Mark Villar is optimistic the NEDA Board should soon greenlight the P22.43-billion project known as the CTBEX.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) looks to an early approval of Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation’s (MPTC) P22.43-billion Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway (CTBEX) project to obtain National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) approval within the first quarter of 2020.

Declaring he does not want to preempt the NEDA Board, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said he is optimistic the unsolicited project should break ground early next year.

“(The NEDA approval) will come very soon, definitely in the first quarter next year,” Villar told reporters last week.

“There may be no guarantee but I think we can get it on the first quarter next year,” he added, noting that once the project is green-lighted, it undergoes a Swiss challenge.

According to Villar, the NEDA still needs clarification on some aspects of the 50.42-kilometer project.

The DPWH granted original proponent status (OPS) to MPTC’s offer in July last year.

The OPS will allow MPTC to match offers from other parties once a Swiss challenge is conducted.

Based on earlier reports, MPTC prefers for the Swiss challenge to happen within the year or soon after.

In a bid to help bring progress to the western part of Southern Luzon, MPTC said CTBEX is a road project that will connect from the west of Silang East Interchange of the Cavite Laguna Expressway and will pass through Silang, Pook, Amadeo, Tagaytay, Mendez, Alfonso, Magallanes, Tuy, and Nasugbu.

The project is among the first projects that have been granted OPS under the Duterte administration, which according to Villar was due to its significance in addressing gridlock problems in the CALABARZON area.

Apart from the CTBEX project, Villar said 2020 would be a big year as it is when major Build Build Build projects are expected to be completed.