Lost potentials in CALAX delay

Lost potentials in CALAX delay | Daily Tribune

The construction of the P35.7 billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway is facing a significant cost overrun gap and lost opportunities for the local government of Silang, Cavite, to transform the municipality into the country's next "botanical garden."

Indeed, the delays in completing the CALAX project have caused MPCALA Holdings Inc. to exceed its cost estimates by 15 percent.

Because construction is one of the most sensitive and active sectors, the industry has a high visibility output that supports critical economic activity through intersecting oral links between enterprises and construction. This makes the construction sector a powerful economic force.

True enough, the CALAX delay has cost the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon, including all the communities along the road, incalculable losses in business and livelihood opportunities.

In Silang alone, a day of delay meant lost tourism revenues for 300,000 inhabitants. In addition, a vital section of the CALAX, the Silang (Aguinaldo) Interchange, snagged in the ROW deadlock, and the local government unit is prevented from building inner roads.

Silang Mayor Kevin Anarna complained it could also cost the municipality's cityhood bid in 2025 and adversely impact his bid to transform itself into the country's next botanical garden.

With the delay, CALAX still needs to meet some of the most basic development goals of the affected communities, including output generation, income job creation, and generation and redistribution.

The CALAX project is seen to contribute to long-term economic progress significantly.

The local government units that will be served by the CALAX development consider the project to aid in providing basic physical and social necessities, including infrastructure, shelter, and consumer goods. It is vital to comprehend how the CALAX project reacts to changes in other industries.

Let's look at the numbers.

Only 64 percent of the CALAX Silang (Aguinaldo) Interchange subsection has been finished, the fifth of eight segments of the 45-kilometer expressway.

An undelivered ROW on 450 meters of land, the property of a private corporation owned by a prominent politician, obstructs work on the project.

An estimated 40,000 motorists are expected to benefit once CALAX becomes fully operational.

Because so much is at stake, the Department of Public Works and Highways should step in to break the ROW deadlock holding up a critical section of the CALAX for half a decade, Mayor Anarna maintained.

DPWH admitted that problems with acquiring ROW remain on top of the list of obstacles for infrastructure projects.

That ROW runs smack into illegally built stables for racehorses.

"We're checking what legal remedies are available to us," Mayor Anarna revealed. "Maybe we can get a compromise agreement (between MHI and the private landowners) before the end of the year."

The MHI has to demolish the unauthorized stables to build a bridge and drainage systems connecting to the rest of the expressway.

"Because that vital portion of the CALAX is unfinished due to ROW concerns, our tourist attractions are not being developed and visited well," Mayor Anarna explained.

Silang's cityhood depends on the CALAX completion, the mayor said.

If MHI acquires the ROW by the end of this year, it can operate CALAX's Silang (Aguinaldo) Interchange by the first quarter of 2023.

Already, MHI has moved the road's opening date several times. The most recent date was December 2022, although the company conceded it's still "uncertain."

No one can underestimate how crucial a ROW is.

Everyone hopes the CALAX story doesn't follow the classic adage.

For want of a ROW, the road was lost. For lack of a road, the business was lost, BBM's "Build Better More" program, and the economy went kaput.