MANILA — Metro Pacific Tollways Corp on Monday said it plans to raise the lowest part of the North Luzon Expressway to prevent further flooding that disrupts traffic during bad weather.

In a briefing with Metro Pacific Investment Corp officials and its subsidiaries, MPTC President Babes Singson said the lowest portion of NLEX is located right below the Tulaoc bridge in San Simon, Pampanga.

The lowest part needed to be raised, he said.

Heavy traffic plagued parts of NLEX earlier this month due to flooding.

"Because of the overlapping of Pampanga River, San Simon River, and all waterways around, naturally, it went to the lowest part... It affected no more than 200 meters long. Ganon lang kaikli yun but because of that flooding those coming from the north going to Metro Manila, entrance pa lang ng San Fernando SCTEX barado na," Singson said.

"The solution there is we will raise...Currently [the allowance/clearance] is 5.4 meters. Sabi ko I just need to raise that portion by .7, it will already be higher than the highest flood levels in the last several days and I will still have a clearance of at least 4.5 meters," he added.

Singson shared they attempted to raise the portion in 2021 but it did not push through following discussions with the Department of Public Works and Highways.

"That's what we committed, we will do that, we're just finalizing the design, what we will do is have a bridge where the water will just flow through kasi ngayon naging embankment eh hindi makatawid," he said.

"Hopefully with other interventions, we should be able to do that raising before December by this year," he said.

The project may take no longer than 3 months, he added.

• Heavy traffic in NLEX caused by flooding: exec

Meanwhile, Singson also said the company's planned initial public offering (IPO) depends on the completion of its pending projects.

"Our struggle is completing existing projects because of the right of way. So I will continue to push right-of-way issues, second, is getting the committed tariffs...in terms of new projects, we're signing a new project this afternoon. The new project with San Miguel," he added.

In the same briefing, MPIC Chief Finance and Sustainability Officer Chaye Cabal-Revilla said MPTC is "preparing" for the IPO.

"They're also preparing that's why there's a push for us to be able to complete our projects several projects," she said.

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— With a report from Jessica Fenol, ABS-CBN News