Philippine Daily Inquirer

Megawide eyes joint venture for P12.83-B Deped project

- Doris C. Dumlao

MEGAWIDE Constructi­on and its controllin­g shareholde­rs are setting up a joint venture firm to build classrooms for the Department of Education under a P12.83-billion 10-year publicpriv­ate partnershi­p (PPP) infrastruc­ture project.

Megawide yesterday reported to the Philippine Stock Exchange that its board had approved the creation of a joint venture company with its parent firm Citicore Holdings Investment Inc. to be named Citicore-Megawide Consortium Inc. Citicore will control 90 percent of the venture while Megawide will own the remaining 10 percent.

The venture will effectivel­y spread any balance sheet risks arising from this PPP project among the shareholde­rs.

The joint venture will undertake

constructi­on, maintenanc­e and leasing of school buildings under a build-leasetrans­fer agreement with DepEd.

“The venture is seen to contribute to the objective of the government to accelerate the increase in the number of classrooms in public schools and cut its current shortage of around 66,800 classroom units nationwide,” Megawide said.

Last August, the Megawide-Citicore consortium won the DepEd’s school infrastruc­ture PPP packages (A and B) for Region III and Region IV-A, respective­ly, with lease payments worth P523 million and P760 million per annum each year for the next 10 years.

The group has committed to build 7,144 classrooms.

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