Gov’t: No expressway toll hike

By KRIS BAYOS

Manila, Philippines – The government won’t let the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) and Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) implement provisional toll increase even if their scheduled toll hikes are already delayed by six months.

Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) executive director Atty. Edmund Reyes admitted that operators of SCTEx, Cavitex, and STAR have been complaining about the delay in the government’s disposal of their petitions to increase toll rates.

It was recalled that SCTEx, Cavitex and STAR have filed their separate petitions last year in the hope of implementing their respective toll hikes by January 1. But oppositors, like commuters and transport operators, questioned the procedures by which the public hearing was being conducted, thereby delaying the process.

“It is normal for them to complain but TRB has to follow certain procedures so that we will not be perceived as railroading the process,” Reyes said.

“So far, we are sufficiently covered as far as the technical aspects are concerned. We might go on to the hearing proper any time soon,” he added.

Reyes said that granting provisional increase has been the tradition of TRB to address the delay in the resolution of toll hike petitions. But he insisted it won’t be the case now and petitioners will have to let the TRB resolve the case for transparency’s sake.

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