More firms express interest in Nayong Pilipino project
TWO listed builders may vie for a P1.47billion contract the government is bidding out by December to build a worldclass cultural theme park within the casino-resort complex on Manila Bay’s foreshore, company officials said yesterday.
Megawide Construction Corp. — the listed builder of the new Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) — and Alabang business district builder Filinvest Development Corp. said they are both interested in the public-private partnership (PPP) park project in what would be the Duterte administration’s second PPP venture to gain ground.
The “New Nayong Pilipino at Entertainment City” project takes its name from the old cultural park that now sits in Clark, Pampanga, but will rise on a 9.5-hectare lot in the Entertainment City gaming and entertainment complex in Parañaque City.
The government early this month conducted the investors’ conference for the project.
In January, it offered regional airport deals too.
Both Megawide and Filinvest attended the PPP Center’s briefing for investors on the park project.
“Yes, we are interested in the Nayong Pilipino bid. We would like to study the terms properly so that we’ll know how to proceed,” GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC) President Manuel Louie B. Ferrer said in a mobile phone reply when asked whether the firm is interested to bid for the contract.
“It’s a project close to the hearts of many Filipinos because we grew up visiting the old Nayong Pilipino. Just as we worked to exceed the standards set for MCIA, we want to do the same for this project and any others we might be interested in.”
Filinvest Development Corp. Vice-President for Marketing Bernadette M. Ramos said in a separate mobile phone reply: “Yes we are looking at Nayong Pilipino.”
“I know our team is currently reviewing the papers.”
During the Feb. 9 investors conference for the project, representatives of Ayalaled AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp.; JG Summit Holdings, Inc.; SM Prime Holdings, Inc.; Megaworld Corp.; Filinvest Land, Inc.; D.M.Consunji, Inc. and D.M. Wenceslao and Associates, Inc. also attended. Representatives of the group of Japanese casino mogul Kazuo Okada, whose Philippine subsidiary Tiger Resort, Leisure & Entertainment, Inc. owns and operates the Okada Manila within Entertainment City were also present.
Megawide and Filinvest add to the two other groups that last week voiced interest in the new Nayong Pilipino contract.
AC Infrastructure Corporate Communications Head Irene S. Maranan earlier said the firm will assess the project first, while D.M. Wenceslao Chief Executive Officer Delfin C. Wenceslao said his company will also evaluate the project.
The project is envisioned to become a “world-class showcase of highly interactive and immersive experience of historic and contemporary Philippine culture and heritage within a theme park.”
The winning bidder will build, operate and maintain the project for 23 years, inclusive of a threeyear construction phase, according to the state PPP Center.