5 firms vie for P4-B PPP deal

Screengrab from www.sanmiguel.com.ph

Five groups, including San Miguel Corp. and Ayala Land Inc., will vie for the P4-billion public private partnership project near the Food Terminal Inc. compound in southern Metro Manila, a government official said Friday.

Michael Sagcal, Transportation department spokesperson, said the companies that bought bid documents apart from San Miguel and Ayala were Filinvest Land, Megawide Construction Corp., and Datem Construction, a contractor whose projects include The Serendra project in Bonifacio Global City and Discovery Shores Boracay.

The Transportation department said interested groups have until Oct. 6 to submit prequalification documents for the project, formally known as the Integrated Transport System Project-South Terminal.

The prequalification would determine which groups would proceed in the bidding process. The state-run Food Terminal Inc. still owns a 24-hectare special economic zone in Taguig after it sold a 74-hectare portion to Ayala Land two years ago. This deal is the second of its kind to be auctioned off under the Aquino administration’s Public Private Partnership program.

The Transportation department earlier published an invitation to bid for the ITS project-Southwest Terminal, for which the offers may be expected next month. Ayala, San Miguel Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments of Manuel V. Pangilinan were earlier said to be keen on bidding for the Southwest terminal deal.

The ITS system is an intermodal hub where provincial buses may unload passengers who can then transfer to other in-city modes of transport such as rail lines, city buses and UV Express vans, the department said.

In the case of ITS South Terminal, the project will connect passengers from the Laguna/Batangas areas to transport systems, including a planned North-South Commuter Rail, city buses and taxis, it said.

The winner will finance, design, build and operate the terminal for a period of 35 years, the Transportation department said. It will employ a two-stage envelope system for the bidding process, according to the bid invitation.

The terminal will also include a main passenger building, arrival and departure bays, public information systems, ticketing and baggage holding facilities and so-called park-ride facilities. The government is also planning an ITS terminal in the northern part of Metro Manila.

It is currently studying various locations, including the Seedling Bank on Edsa in Quezon City, Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya said previously.