Gov’t remains hopeful on bidding 4 PPP projects

The Philippines remains keen on bidding out within the year at least four more public private partnership (PPP) deals valued at about P115 billion—all of which are related to transport infrastructure—despite a string of setbacks seen last month, the head of the PPP Center said Friday.

These include the P60-billion Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 extension, the P1.72-billion automated fare collection system, the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport and the P35-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway, PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao said in a briefing.

But a key part of the plan means working on setbacks that delayed or derailed at least three auctions, the biggest of which was the LRT-1 extension to Cavite province, which was declared a failure after bidders pulled out or did not comply with the bidding requirements last August 15.

Canilao said the government was moving to revise the bidding terms for this project. She said they were now allowing the government to absorb costly real property taxes, or RPTs, estimated at P2 billion, and provide a subsidy component during the bidding process.

Canilao reiterated that they have also decided to proceed to rebid the project, noting that the National Economic and Development Authority board would have to approve these actions.

The failure of the LRT-1 auction was believed to have prompted the DOTC to defer the bidding and refine the concession agreements for both the Mactan-Cebu Airport and the AFCS, originally scheduled to be auctioned last Aug. 28 and Aug. 30, respectively.

Canilao said the draft concession agreements for both projects were already released to bidders and that these would likely be auctioned by the end of October.

The submission for prequalification documents for Cavite Laguna Expressway, meanwhile, is scheduled on Sept. 23 with bid submissions set on December 27. Assuming there are no delays, the 47-kilometer expressway would be the last PPP deal to be bid out in 2013, Canilao said.

The PPP Center was also looking to roll out seven more projects, possibly within the second half, Canilao said.

These are the P5-billion integrated transport system project, the P297-million grains central project by the Department of Agriculture, and the New Centennial water supply project and Bulacan bulk water supply project, both under the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System.

The remaining three that could be rolled out are operations and maintenance contracts for the Panglao and Laguindingan provincial airports as well as prison facilities.

These deals are part of about 45 projects the government wants to auction under its PPP program. So far, three projects have been awarded since 2011. Miguel R. Camus