Gov’t hopes to bid out P 123-B road tollway-dike project under PPP
The Philippine government hopes to evaluate bids and select the winner for a 123-billion ($2.6-billion) tollway and dike project before President Benigno Aquino steps down on June 30, a senior official said yesterday.
Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson told ABS-CBN News Channel that bid- evaluation "should not be too difficult" for what is planned as one of the country's largest infrastructure projects.
The secretary said the bid submission date, which has been postponed twice, has been fixed as March 14. There will be a maximum of three bids, he said, as that's the number of consortia that pre-qualified for the publicprivate partnership (PPP) project.
The three groups are: San Miguel Corp, via its San Miguel Holdings Corp unit; Trident Infrastructure and Development Corp., also known as Team Trident composed of Ayala Land Inc, SM Prime Holdings, Inc., Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc and Megaworld Corp; and Alloy Pavi Hanshin LLEDP Consortium, comprising Malaysia's MTD Group, South Korea's Hanshin Construction Co. Ltd. and the family of former Philippine Senator Manuel Villar Jr.
The Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike project involves construction of a 47kilometer expressway and a 45-kilometer dike that will mitigate flooding in communities along Laguna Lake.
Another part is the reclamation of around 700 hectares of land south of Manila.
Some bidders had sought more time to prepare offers, prompting the government to postpone the
bidding several times.
"Among the issues that they raised was the timing as well as some concerns about government proclamation on the land that will be reclaimed," Singson said.
The proclamation is being worked out by the Office of the President and multiple concerned agencies, and the Department of Environment and Natu- ral Resources, he said.
"What we're working out is to make sure that all of these documents are issued before March 14," Singson said.
Since launching the PPP program in 2010, the government has awarded nine projects worth 130 billion. (Reuters)