Top firms vie for P1.72B rail collection deal

Large conglomerates are expected Monday to submit bids for the P1.72-billion Automatic Fare Collection System, a public-private partnership deal for a “tap and go” system for Metro Manila’s elevated railways. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Phiippines—Large conglomerates are expected Monday to submit bids for the P1.72-billion Automatic Fare Collection System, a public-private partnership deal for a “tap and go” system for Metro Manila’s elevated railways.

Expected to submit bids are AF Consortium led by the Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Investments headed by businessman Manuel Pangilinan, and the SM consortium, which includes several companies owned by the Sy family’s SM group, according to David Nicol of Metro Pacific and Eduardo Francisco of BDO Capital.

Also expected to participate in Monday’s auction are ComWorks Inc., whose members include the Berjaya Group, and the Megawide-Suyen-Eurolink consortium, according to Berjaya Philippines treasurer Tan Eng Hwa and Megawide Construction’s corporate information officer Louie Ferrer.

The fifth group, E-Trans Solutions Joint Venture Inc. could not be reached for comment.

In a statement issued last week, the Department of Transportation and Communications, which is implementing the AFCS PPP, expected all players to join.

“All five prequalified groups are still very much in the running,” DOTC spokesman Michael Sagcal said.

The prequalified groups have also partnered with foreign companies familiar with similar ticketing systems.

The AFCS project is part of the transportation department’s thrust to modernize the country’s transport systems and provide more convenient, reliable and efficient services.

“It will upgrade the Light Rail Transit and Metro Rail Transit ticketing scheme to a tap-and-go system,” the DOTC said. This “will substantially lessen queuing time and allow seamless transfers from one rail line to another.”

The winning consortium will also have the option to expand this contactless card system to other businesses in and out of the transportation sector, such as in retail transactions.

The DOTC aims to award the contract for this project by February next year, and is targeting full implementation by the third quarter of 2015.

Also, the DOTC announced that the P17.5-billion Mactan Cebu International Airport PPP has been postponed.

A meeting to iron out key contract revisions with the board of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) has yet to be scheduled.

The DOTC said the Neda meeting would take place within the next two weeks and the bid submission would be held a week after that.