Megawide group raising P2.9B for PPP project

Screengrab from https://www.megawide.com.ph/

MANILA, Philippines—A consortium led by the Megawide engineering and construction group has mandated state-controlled Land Bank of the Philippines to raise P2.9 billion from a syndicated bank loan to partly fund the construction of a new Philippine orthopedic hospital.

The P5.7-billion build-operate-transfer Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC) was bagged by Megawide-World Citi consortium through a public-private partnership (PPP) framework with the Department of Health as the implementing agency.

Oliver Tan, chief finance officer of Megawide Construction Corp., on Wednesday said in a press briefing that the consortium was “in the final touches” of obtaining a P2.9 billion long-term syndicated loan with LandBank as the lead arranger. The consortium is looking at a 10-year tenor for the facility with a grace period of two years, approximating the period of construction.

The project involves the construction of a 700-bed capacity super-specialty tertiary orthopedic hospital to be located within the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) compound along East Avenue, Quezon City. The current POC in Banawe Avenue, Quezon City, also has 700 rooms but only 300 rooms are fit for hospital use.

Under the PPP project, the concessionaire—Megaworld-World Citi—will design, build, finance, operate and maintain the facility until the end of the concession period and then transfer the hospital to the DOH after 25 years.

Megawide’s partner, World Citi, operates the 276-bed tertiary hospital World Citi Medical Center on Aurora Boulevard.

In the next six to eight months, Tan said the consortium would complete the design phase and start construction by the last quarter of next year. The new hospital is expected to be completed in two years.—Doris C. Dumlao