No more pre-bid extension for Laguna expressway dike project

MANILA, Philippines – No further extension will be given for the submission of qualification documents for the P123-billion ($2.78 billion) Laguna lakeshore expressway dike project, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said Wednesday, February 18.

Per Supplemental Bid Bulletin Number 9, interested companies have until February 27 to submit their qualification documents for the largest public-private partnership (PPP) project rolled out by the Aquino government so far.

DPWH would no longer defer the deadline as companies have been given ample time after the submission was deferred twice to January 14 and then to February 27, Undersecretary Rafael Yabut said.

DPWH should have notified the prequalified bidders on February 8, paving the way for the submission of bid proposals on July 6.

The agency aims to issue the Notice of Award on August 4 and sign the concession agreement on September 4.

The project involves the construction of a 47-kilometer flood control dike on top of which will be a high speed 6-lane expressway starting from Taguig, passes through Muntinlupa and Calamba, and ends in Los Banos at its boundary with Bay, Laguna.

The PPP project also includes the reclamation of about 700 hectares of foreshore and offshore areas, west of the dike, in Taguig and Muntinlupa.

A total of 24 local and foreign companies have expressed interest in the government’s largest PPP project, PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao earlier said.

The project is expected to mitigate flooding in the western coastal communities along Laguna Lake, from Bicutan, Taguig, in Metro Manila through Calamba to Bay in Laguna.

The project also aims to decongest traffic and provide motorists an alternate route in going to and from Laguna, thus avoiding the existing Calamba-Los Baños route.

The project would also boost tourism in the Southern Tagalog region’s tourist destinations.

DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson previously said that the Laguna expressway-dike project is complex, thus interested firms were given more time to pick and choose their consortium members. – Rappler.com