SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – It’s now a battle between Filinvest Land Incorporated and Ayala Land Incorporated for the P4-billion ($87.47-million) deal to build and operate an integrated transport hub near the Food Terminal Incorporated in Taguig City.
Only two of the 4 qualified bidders submitted technical and financial bids on Friday, July 31, for the Integrated Transport System (ITS)-South terminal project.
Filinvest, Ayala Land, Datem Incorporated, and MWM Terminals of Megawide Construction Corporation and WM Property Management Incorporated made it to the short list of those qualified to bid for the contract.
But only Filinvest and Ayala Land moved forward and submitted bids for the ITS deal of the transportation department.
“We’re not [bidding for ITS-South]. We’ll focus on other projects, like the regional airports,” Megawide corporate information officer Manuel Louie Ferrer said in a text message.
PPP deals
Meanwhile, construction firm Datem said it will continue to study other public-private partnership (PPP) deals, although it will no longer bid for the ITS-South.
“The company decided to formally withdraw as a prospective bidder due to concerns related to the commercial viability of the deal,” Datem said in a statement.
Transportation Undersecretary for legal Jose Perpetuo Lotilla said his office is happy with the participation of Filinvest and Ayala.
“Masaya na kami diyan (we’re happy with that). What’s important is that we’ve got two big firms vying for the project,” Lotilla said.
Christine Antonio, project development service director of PPP Center, said the government will finish the evaluation of technical documents “within 20 calendar days.”
The opening of financial proposals will be “within 15 days from the completion of the evaluation of the technical offers,” Antonio said.
The winning bidder will design, construct, and operate for 35 years a terminal servicing Manila-bound commuters coming from Laguna and Batangas.
The government set a two-stage bidding process for the P4-billion contract, which means the qualification documents are opened separately from the financial and technical proposals.
Apart from the 4 qualified groups, diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corporation and property developer Robinsons Land Corporation earlier bought bid documents but did not pursue pre-qualification on November 25 last year.
Other ITS projects
The transportation department is building integrated transport hubs in northern and south-western Metro Manila.
It successfully auctioned off the ITS-Southwest project, which will build a terminal for commuters in the Cavite area. MWM Terminals in January bagged the P2.5-billion ($54.65-million) ITS-Southwest Terminal deal, outdoing Filinvest Land’s offer.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya told reporters early this year the department is studying a site near the Veterans Memorial Medical Center for a third transport hub, the ITS-North Terminal project.
Apart from that site, other prospective locations are the former Manila Seedling Bank, the Philippine National Railways site in Caloocan City, and the University of the Philippines-Diliman campus.
The Aquino administration has awarded 10 PPP deals since 2010. – Rappler.com
$1 = P45.75
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