The Skyway Stage 3 extension project connecting the North and South Luzon expressways will be delayed by three months because of a warehouse fire that led to the collapse of a portion of the elevated tollway in Manila, Malacañang said on Wednesday.

Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar informed the Cabinet of the snag in Tuesday night’s Cabinet meeting.

“According to Secretary Villar, the affected project is part of this Administration’s decongestion program of EDSA because through this, travel time from NLEX to Makati will be at 15 minutes, while Makati to Quezon City at only 5 minutes. At this point, the Skyway project is already 80% complete,” Panelo said in a statement.

“As a result of the damage, the opening of the project shall, however, be pushed back by at least 3 months to July 2020. Secretary Villar said that there is no such thing as a structure which is fireproof. Thus, the damaged portion needs to be reconstructed,” he added.

Panelo said Villar assured the president that EDSA would be decongested within his term. (PressONE.ph)