More tycoons join bid for Laguna Lakeshore development
More tycoons have set their sights on the government’s next big-ticket public-private partnership (PPP) deal, the Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike, with taipan Lucio Tan, conglomerate San Miguel Corp. and a handful of other groups swelling the number of interested companies to 14, a top government executive said on Tuesday.
The growing number of players, several of whom have previously shied away from the Aquino administration’s PPP program, implies strong interest in the P123-billion expressway, said Cosette Canilao, PPP Center executive director.
Others like San Miguel, which is currently contesting the P35.4-billion Cavite Laguna Expressway project, continued to participate in the public-private partnership program.
Canilao said six more companies had purchased bid documents ahead of the pre-qualification deadline on Oct. 16, adding to the initial eight companies.
Canilao said those that bought bid documents over the last week are San Miguel, the Gotianun family’s Filinvest Land and Tan’s LT Group Inc., a tobacco, beverage and banking conglomerate that also owns builder Eton Properties Philippines.
Also keen are Macquarie Capital Securities, Laguna Lakeshore Consortium of Wenceslao Group, and JV Power and Wealth Corp., she added.
Other groups that already purchased bid documents are GT Capital Holdings of George Ty, Ayala Land Inc., Megaworld Corp. of Andrew Tan, Metro Pacific Investments under Manuel V. Pangilinan, Minerales Industrias Corp., Muhibbah Engineering Corp. of Malaysia, Egis Projects SA of France and Australia’s Leighton Contractors.
Canilao said she expected some of the groups to partner with one another given the size of the PPP deal.
“Interest appears high because of the real estate play. Plus it will open new gateways, solve one of our major problems—flooding,” Canilao said.
Apart from building a flood control dike and expressway linking Taguig in Metro Manila to Los Baños, Laguna, the deal involves the reclamation near Taguig and Muntinlupa of 700 hectares of land—an area roughly a third of the size of Makati City.
Excluding Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike, the PPP Center said it would roll out at least 18 more projects before June next year, as part of its goal to ensure the sustainability of the program and the development of key infrastructure beyond President Aquino’s current term.
Projects to be rolled out include Metro Manila’s first subway system, which would require about $3 billion to develop, and a North-South commuter railway with a price tag of $6 billion, information from the PPP Center showed.
