Manila, March 10 -- A planned toll road extending South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to the Bicol Region is expected to reduce transport costs, improve supply chains, and create thousands of jobs, a House leader said Monday.

In a statement, House Committee on Ways and Means chair and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said the Toll Regulatory Board's (TRB) impending approval of the final engineering design for the first segment of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) Toll Road 5 (TR5) would address long-standing transport bottlenecks in the region.

The TRB recently disclosed that the final engineering design encompasses the initial segment stretching from Lucena to Gumaca in Quezon province.

"Along with ongoing works for TR4, the Lucena-Gumaca segment wi...