The Philippines’ North Luzon Expressway Corporation (NLEX Corporation) has dredged and widened about 20 kilometres of rivers in the province of Pampanga just north of Manila.
The works followed monsoon and typhoon flooding that inundated the expressway earlier this year.
NLEX Corporation President and General Manager Luis Reñon briefed Pampanga Governor Lilia Pineda and Vice Governor Dennis Pineda on the project at the provincial on Monday, October 12. He said the works covered the Tulaoc and Pankiyari Rivers in San Simon town and the Pau River in Santo Tomas.
The 20-kilometre figure is the combined length across the three rivers. Work on these stretches has been under way since September, whereas the broader project began in late August.
Flooding had submerged both the northbound and southbound lanes of the North Luzon Expressway, causing delays of 10 to 12 hours.
On August 31, the Toll Regulatory Board directed the operator to explain the flooding and set out its proposed mitigation measures within three days.
"We are going to continue dredging and widening towards Manila Bay with the help of San Miguel Corporation at the request of Vice Governor [Pineda]," Reñon told local news outlet Philippine Daily Inquirer.
NLEX Corporation is also installing sheet piles along riverbanks and building water detention facilities on the expressway shoulders to keep floodwater off the toll road. The company will raise the road level once a Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) contractor has raised the Tulaoc Bridge.
The Pampanga Provincial Government, the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the DPWH are surveying the original widths of the rivers.
The Tulaoc, a tributary of the Pampanga River, overflowed in late August. At the height of the flooding, many nearby residential areas were under water.
The expressway had also been severely flooded in 2023.