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MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is set to decide today, June 11, on the validity of the bid proposal submitted by diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp (SMC) for the proposed P35.4-billion Cavite-Laguna expressway project.
SMC’s Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc. was given 24 hours by DPWH to submit more documents to support its bid proposal for the Calax project.
The agency already received a letter of clarification from SMC, Public Works Undersecretary Rafael Yabut said in a text message Tuesday, June 10.
The agency’s special bids and awards committee (SBAC) will convene Wednesday to evaluate the additional documents submitted by SMC.
Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center Executive Director Cosette Canilao said in a text message that the SBAC is already reviewing the letter submitted by SMC’s Optimal Infrastructure.
The agency met with in-house consultants KPMG and ACCRA Law Office, the Department of Finance (DOF), and the PPP Center on Monday to discuss the issues raised by the 3 other bidders against the SMC unit.
On June 6, the DPWH deferred the opening of the bids for the PPP project the 3 other bidders questioned the June 2 bid proposal of Optimal Infrastructure.
Malaysia’s Alloy MTD Philippines, MPCALA Holdings Inc of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, and Team Orion of the Ayala and Aboitiz Group questioned the validity of Optimal’s bid security, as well as the packaging and labeling of its proposal.
Mark Dumol, president of SMC’s Private Infra Development Corporation, said in a statement that their group’s bid was fully compliant with the requirements. He said ANZ Bank issued a certification that the bid security was valid until November 29.
Dumol added SMC is hopeful the evaluating committee will not be influenced by MPCALA’s campaign against SMC through its “media machinery.”
“MPCALA is like Megatron, it wants to kill Optimus (SMC’s Optimal) but has so far been unsuccessful,” he said.
“The entity that submits the highest financial bid to the government wins,” Dumol stressed.
The Calax project involves the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of a 4-lane, 47-kilometer closed-system toll expressway connecting the South Luzon Expressway and the Cavite Expressway. – Rappler.com
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