ITS- Southwest groundbreaking set on Friday
THE MEGAWIDE group will break ground on the P2.5-billion Southwest Terminal of the Integrated Transport System (ITS) Project on Friday, the Transportation department confirmed on Tuesday, making it the ninth public-private partnership (PPP) project to be successfully started under the Aquino administration.
Construction will begin on the 4.59-hectare terminal on Friday morning at the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) lot along Manila- Cavite Expressway, the Transportation department said in an advisory.
ITS- Southwest joins a flurry of PPP construction being rushed for the end of President Benigno S. C. Aquino’s term on June 30. On Friday, Mr. Aquino led the groundbreaking ceremony for the P24.4- billion Bulacan Bulk Water Supply PPP in San Jose Del Monte, and he will attend another one on Wednesday for the P69.3-billion Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7), which was delayed by more than seven years.
The Southwest ITS will connect commuters from Cavite to other transport systems servicing Metro Manila starting February 2017.
According to data e- mailed by Megawide, the project will include a four- storey terminal building, arrival and departure areas for provincial and Metro Manila buses, taxis and jeepneys, four towers to be leased out to business process outsourcing locators, and a planned connection to the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1).
The company is also preparing to lease out commercial space totaling 7,000 square meters (sq.m.)
The total lot area is 29,627.78 sq. m., while the terminal area spans 28,582.21 sq.m.
MWM Terminals, a consortium of Megawide and WM Property Management, Inc., signed on April 2015 the 35-year concession agreement to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the Southwest ITS.
Megawide is the group with the most projects won under the PPP program. It also bagged contracts for the P17.52- billion Mactan- Cebu International Airport (MCIA) Passenger Terminal Building, P16.43- billion first phase of the PPP School Infrastructure Project ( PSIP), and PSIP’s P3.86-billion second phase, as well as the P8.69-billion modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center, which it terminated in November last year.
Shares in Megawide ended on Tuesday, trading at P6.65, up by 10 centavos or 1.53%.
So far, contracts for 12 PPP projects worth some P217.4 billion, have been awarded since the infrastructure flagship program was launched in the third quarter of 2010. The winning bidders have started work on the P1.72-billion Automatic Fare Collection System, the P2.01-billion Daang Hari-Slex Link Road (Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway) Project, the P15.86-billion second phase of the NAIA Expressway Project, the two phases of the PSIP, MCIA Project, Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project, and the P64.9-billion LRT-1 Cavite Extension and Operation & Maintenance project. Other awarded contracts are the P4-billion ITS South Terminal Project and the P55.51-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway. —