SAN Miguel Corp. has not yet formally notified the government about its decision to scrap the planned Pasig River Expressway (Parex), a Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) official said, some two months after the company's top executive announced that the conglomerate was heeding public concerns.

"We wrote the SMC Infrastructure on the reported withdrawal or abandonment of the project," TRB Executive Director Alvin Carullo said, adding that "up to this time, we have not received an official communication from SMC Infra."

San Miguel President and CEO Ramon S. Ang in March had said that the Parex project — a 19.37 km six-lane, all-elevated expressway that would traverse the entirety of Pasig River — would no longer push through.

"...I am a businessman who, if I see that our countrymen do not want the project, I will not pursue [it]," Ang said in acknowledgement of concerns ranging from the impact on communities, the river itself and heritage sites, and questions regarding San Miguel's project assessment.

Carullo said the government could not just terminate the project, which has already secured a supplemental toll operation agreement, as there would be penalties involved.

"If they (San Miguel) will be the one to unilaterally withdraw, there are no financial obligations of the government," he said. "But if the government itself will be the one to terminate, there will be legal consequences and it includes [a] monetary consequence."

"Technically, it (the Parex project) is still on the table because they (San Miguel) have not given the confirmation that they are terminating the contract or the project," Carullo continued.

The TRB, which is the implementing agency for the Parex project, has decided to suspend further action and has given San Miguel six months from March to send an official notice about its plans.

"It is already in the final engineering design (FED) stage. Because of the recent developments, the board deferred the deadline of submission of FED for six months," Carullo said.

"If the TRB receives the official communications, then we will give the proper report to the board," he added.

The Department of Public Works and Highways website notes that last March 14 — four days before Ang made his announcement — Pasig River Expressway Corp. had sent a letter to the TRB requesting for a six-month extension to complete the FED.

The PPP Center lists the Parex project as "under implementation" but in "preconstruction."

As proposed by San Miguel Holdings Corp. and Philippine National Construction Corp. the P81.53-billion Parex will start from Radial Road 10 in Manila to a connection with the proposed South East Metro Manila Expressway at Circumferential Road 6.

San Miguel earlier said that it had already invested P2 billion to clean up the Pasig River and integrate a bus rapid transit system, bicycle lanes and pedestrian walkways in the project.

Company officials were not immediately available for comment. TMT