Gov’t moves transport system bid deadline

The bid submission deadline for the government’s first Integrated Transport System public private partnership deal, known as the ITS-Southwest Terminal, has been pushed back almost two weeks to provide time for “final clearances”.

In a bid bulletin, the transportation department said the deadline for the P2.5-billion project, which was rolled out on Dec. 27 last year, was moved from Dec. 1 to Dec. 12, 2014.

The ITS system was designed to create intermodal hubs where provincial buses would disembark passengers to transfer to other in-city modes of transport such as MRT3 or LRT1, city buses and UV Express vans. The system is aimed at easing congestion in Metro Manila.

The Southwest Terminal of the ITS project will be constructed on a 4.6-hectare land near the Manila-Cavite Expressway.

The project will include passenger terminal buildings, arrival and departure bays, public information systems, ticketing and baggage handling facilities, and park-ride facilities.

The private partner will undertake the design, construction, and financing of the ITS terminal as well as the operation and maintenance of the whole facility. It can also undertake commercial development and collect revenues generated from the same, information on the PPP Center’s website showed.

The concession period, including construction, runs 35 years, it added.

Just last week, four groups submitted pre-qualification requirements for the government’s second ITS project, the P4-billion South Terminal, which will be put up near the Food Terminal Inc. compound in Taguig. Miguel R. Camus