MANILA -- The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said Tuesday it was eyeing the extension of San Miguel Corporation's concession over the Skyway Stage 3 to allow it to recover revenue losses from the free use of parts of the elevated toll road during the rebuild of EDSA.

Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon said President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr refused to increase Skyway fees following the toll holiday. 

"Yan po ay hindi po nag-agree ang Pangulo dyan," Dizon said of the toll hikes. "Kaya nga po ang gagawin natin dito ay walang increases." 

"Mag-uusap po kami ng ibang mga bagay na pwedeng mabigyan ng fair and reasonable reprieve ang San Miguel Corporation, such as a possible extension of the concession term," the official said. "Those are one of the things we're discussing now. Awe're confident po na makakahanap po tayo ng solution d'yan."

Odd-even scheme, free Skyway toll among interventions during EDSA rebuild

SMC Infrastructure Corporate Affairs Office Head Meliisa Encanto Tagarda said they were supportive of government's plans.

"Yes, we are just ironing the details with DOTR... We're open to yung mga remedies that can be done...for as long as it's fair to San Miguel," Tagarda said.

Dizon said that San Miguel Corporation already agreed in principle to the free use of portions of the Skyway.

"We'd like to thank San Miguel and Mr. Ramon Ang for being open to this and agreeing already in principle. Ang kailangan na lang po gawin dito is kailangan i-finalize po yung mekanismo kasi hindi din po biro yung bigla pong dadagsang sasakyan sa Skyway," Dizon said.

He said the elevated highway is structurally capable of accommodating the influx of vehicles.

"According to the engineers naman po, I don't think it will be an issue. Kaya naman po ng Skyway yun," he said. 

Dizon said they were working on traffic management plans to manage the entry and exit of vehicles to avoid bottlenecks.

"Kasi ang magiging problema po talaga dyan, yung pag-iimbudo sa exit and entrance to the Skyway. Yung paakyat at pababa. So yun po talaga ang big challenge," he said. 

"So we will need proper traffic management, which San Miguel has asked assistance from the government kasi hindi nila kakayanin na yung mga enforcer lang nila ang tutulong...especially yung pagbaba," he said.

ODD-EVEN SCHEME

Dizon also clarified that the implementation of the odd-even scheme to lessen vehicular use on EDSA during its rehabilitation will be tested first next month.

"Habang dina-dry run po ito, wala pong huli, walang violation, pero makikiusap lang po tayo ng cooperation ng publiko para lang po makita kung talagang magiging epektibo ito o hindi for one month," Dizon said.

"Ngayon, i-a-assess po ng MMDA yan, sa pagkakaintindi ko...after one month, kung yan po ay mapatunayan na epektibo, meaning napababa po talaga significantly ang number of vehicles sa EDSA, eh yan po eh pag uusapan nang ituloy-tuloy," he said. 

Odd-even scheme dry run to last a month, replace regular coding