Death
February 2, 2009I think what the Philippines needs is not a new beginning but an end. An end to all the corruption and greed and misconceptions on freedom and market economy that we have. We should be willing first to die before we can be truly reborn. We never had a chance to fully develop into a democratic nation. We were rushed into democracy by the Americans after 300 or so years of colonial rule. That’s just too much too fast and today is the result of yesterday’s mistakes. 
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I’m not so sure about the tolls, I mean if it’s the government that levies it or the private firms that run the expressway. In any case, I haven’t traveled north in a long long while and I don’t know the degree of traffic that I’ll be facing if I do. The heavy traffic is a fact of Philippine existence. We just can’t seem to find ways not to rub elbow to elbow with each other while walking. So we do the same when we’re driving or commuting.
NLEX was originally controlled by the Philippine National Construction Corporation or PNCC, operation and maintenance of the NLEX was transferred in 2005 to the Manila North Tollways Corporation, a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (formerly, it was the subsidiary of the Lopez Group of Companies).
A major upgrade and rehabilitation has been completed in February 2005 and the road has now similar qualities as a modern French tollway.
I have a feeling all the money is going to the main contractor of the rehabilitation work, which is Leighton Contractors Pty. Ltd from Australia and Egis Projects, a company belonging to the French Groupe.
And most of the traffic is likely due to the faulty Drainage Enhancement Program since parts of asphalt must be replaced causing numerous traffic jams.
Of course, I personally blame most of the inconveniences from expressways on human error and driver stupidity…
Posted by peterpan at May 4, 2009, 5:51 pmAll comments are moderated. Your comments will not appear here unless approved by the blog owner. Thank you.
hey chris
I was also contemplating this morning, when i was on my way to office, bout this corruption thing. As usual, traffic again at the NLEX road. What a waste of money - they’ve put on that project, and every now and then, they find ways to scrap the road off and try to look as if they’re working on something. So where’s the worth of the toll fees we’re paying? How ironic, we’re paying loads of money to pass thru that road to be able to get to our destinations fast, yet it’s the opposite you’ll be facing - heavy traffic.
Posted by J. Eris at February 2, 2009, 12:09 pm