Philippines Bases Conversion and Development Authority - News

Comments, Questions and Suggestions?

Email: bcda@bcda.gov.ph
Telephone No: 575-1700 Fax No: 816-0996

Display News by: AllSCTEXInvestment & ProjectsFreeports & EcoZonesCorporate Social Responsibility General News

BCDA opens SCTEX’s Floridablanca interchange on Jan 15

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) will open the Floridablanca interchange of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) on January 15, 2010 starting at 6 a.m. making all the 11 interchanges of the tollway accessible and operational.

Robert C. Gervacio, BCDA program manager for operational support services and SCTEX spokesperson, said the opening of the interchange will provide Floridablanca, the second largest rice producing town of Pampanga that is also noted for its sugar farms, with a more efficient way of transporting its produce through the new interchange.

Motorists, meanwhile, will now have the option of passing through the traffic-free SCTEX instead of the old Porac-Floridablanca-Dinalupihan local road.  Even residents of Angeles and Mabalacat should find the new interchange highly convenient, Gervacio said.

The opening of the interchange is expected to further boost business growth and employment opportunities in the Central Luzon logistics hub, he added. Access to and from Floridablanca and its neighboring municipalities, will be now be faster and easier, he pointed out.

To prepare for the interchange’s opening and ensure that traffic will run smoothly, system tests with the assigned tellers were conducted, the SCTEX spokesperson added.

Floridablanca, which is Spanish for “white flower,” also hosts Basa Air Base of the Philippine Air Force. The town is thickly populated and, thus, easing the movement of people and produce though the new interchange should prove a boon for the locals, Gervacio said.

The Floridablanca interchange is a 96-hectare tollway facility located a little more than 33 kilometers from Subic’s Tipo Junction.

The state-owned SCTEX is a 94-kilometer tollway built to interconnect the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Clark Freeport Zone and Central Technopark in Tarlac.  It is the longest expressway in the country with 11 interchanges, four major bridges, 29 minor bridges, 44 underpasses and 303 drainage culverts.