Gov’t dangles perks to toll road bidders

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said the bidders for the 47-kilometer Cavite-Laguna Expressway could avail themselves of a subsidy of as much as P5 billion or offer the government an advanced concession payment to bag its latest public private partnership (PPP) deal.

The department ditched the original plan to evaluate bids based on the lowest toll rate that a bidder can offer and set new parameters, which have proven beneficial for DPWH in past projects.

The final bid parameters for the P35.4-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway, whose bid submission deadline is set on May 21, were contained in a supplemental bid bulletin issued by the DPWH.

But not all welcomed the development for the Cavite-Laguna Expressway PPP, which has drawn four interested groups.

Malaysian-backed MTD Philippines said that basing bids on the lowest toll rate would have been more beneficial to motorists.

Isaac David, MTD Philippines president, said the company was evaluating whether it made sense to proceed with making an offer because a concession payment was costlier for a foreign-backed company like MTD, a unit of AlloyMTD, which is Malaysia’s second-biggest tollroad operator.

The three other groups vying for the Cavite-Laguna Expressway are Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (a unit of Manuel Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp.), San Miguel Corp. and the tandem of the Ayala and Aboitiz groups.

The DPWH is expecting construction of the Calax to start in October next year with completion seen in September 2017, information posted on its website showed. It will start from the Manila-Cavite Expressway in Kawit, Cavite, and end at the SLEx-Mamplasan interchange in Biñan, Laguna.