MANILA - San Miguel Corp said it has finished the Skyway Stage 3 project that will connect the country's two main toll roads.

San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang announced that over the weekend, the company finished construction of the entire 17.93-km stretch of Skyway 3 that will link the South Luzon Expressway with the North Luzon Expressway.

Skyway 3 is expected to cut travel time between SLEX and NLEX to just 20 minutes from 3 hours at present, by bypassing Metro Manila's main roads.

The project was originally targetted to be finished by March this year, but a fire caused parts of the structure to collapse in February. The COVID-19 pandemic also caused delays in construction.

But Ang said the company was still able to finish the project ahead of its Oct. 31 schedule.

“I’m happy to announce that the whole structure of Skyway 3 is now complete. With this, Skyway 2 in Buendia is now officially extended all the way to the North Luzon Expressway. After many challenges this project faced in previous years, the dream of connecting north and south and providing an alternative to EDSA is now a reality,” Ang said.

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Ang however said that the expressway cannot be opened to the public just yet, as heavy rains have delayed finishing works, such as the proper curing of asphalt.

“We just have to wait for the weather to improve so we can make sure that the asphalt will cure properly. That and a few more finishing touches are all that’s needed, and then we can open soon,” he added.

San Miguel said it is also aiming to finish the northbound section of the Skyway Extension by December this year.

Its P740-billion airport project in Bulacan is also set to break ground by the end of the year.

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