Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Vince Dizon said they are eyeing the extension of San Miguel Corporation’s concession over the Skyway Stage 3 to allow it to recover revenue losses from the free use of parts of the elevated toll road during the rebuild of EDSA.

“Mag-uusap po kami ng ibang mga bagay na pwedeng mabigyan ng fair and reasonable reprieve ang San Miguel Corporation, such as a possible extension of the concession term,” the official said. “Those are one of the things we’re discussing now. Awe’re confident po na makakahanap po tayo ng solution d’yan, Dizon said.

Dizon explained that President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr refused to increase Skyway fees to recover loss toll fee during the toll holiday.

SMC Infrastructure Corporate Affairs Office Head Meliisa Encanto Tagarda said they were supportive of government’s plans.

“Yes, we are just ironing the details with DOTR… We’re open to yung mga remedies that can be done…for as long as it’s fair to San Miguel,” Tagarda said.

Dizon said that San Miguel Corporation already agreed in principle to the free use of portions of the Skyway.

“We’d like to thank San Miguel and Mr. Ramon Ang for being open to this and agreeing already in principle. Ang kailangan na lang po gawin dito is kailangan i-finalize po yung mekanismo kasi hindi din po biro yung bigla pong dadagsang sasakyan sa Skyway,” Dizon said.

He said the elevated highway is structurally capable of accommodating the influx of vehicles.

“According to the engineers naman po, I don’t think it will be an issue. Kaya naman po ng Skyway yun,” he said.

Dizon said they were working on traffic management plans to manage the entry and exit of vehicles to avoid bottlenecks.

“Kasi ang magiging problema po talaga dyan, yung pag-iimbudo sa exit and entrance to the Skyway. Yung paakyat at pababa. So yun po talaga ang big challenge,” he said.

“So we will need proper traffic management, which San Miguel has asked assistance from the government kasi hindi nila kakayanin na yung mga enforcer lang nila ang tutulong…especially yung pagbaba,” he said.

Dizon also clarified that the implementation of the odd-even scheme to lessen vehicular use on EDSA during its rehabilitation will be tested first next month.