THE public works department may grant next month the original proposal status to San Miguel Corp. (SMC) for its unsolicited proposal for the extension of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx), a government official said.

Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Officer in Charge for public-private partnerships (PPP) Alex G. Bote said his group is nearing the completion of the due diligence it is conducting for the review of the multibillion-peso proposal of San Miguel.

“We are nearing the granting of the original proponent status for the TPLEx extension. The maximum time to do it is maybe next month,” he said in an interview. A document from the web site of the DPWH showed San Miguel submitted a P23.95-billion proposal for a three-segment extension of TPLEx, all the way to San Juan, La Union.

The project involves a 59.4-kilometer four-lane toll road, which will start from the last exit of the TPLEx in Rosario, La Union, and will terminate at San Juan, La Union. It is divided into the following segments: Rosario-Tubao (18 km), Tubao-Naguilian (23 km) and Naguilian-San Juan (18.4 km).

The proposal was submitted on February 14 this year.

San Miguel is the concessionaire for the TPLEx.