Gov’t sets P20.1-B floor price for Calax

Cavite-Laguna Expressway Route Map www.dpwh.gov.ph

The government is implementing a “shorter” single-stage bidding process for the re-auction of the 45-kilometer Cavite Laguna Expressway (Calax) public private partnership (PPP) deal, according to Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson.

Singson said Wednesday that those guidelines, along with a P20.1-billion “floor price,” would be part of the new terms, which will likely be published within the month. The bid submission, as previously reported, was still slated for May 2015, he said.

A single-stage process means qualification, technical and financial bids will be submitted and evaluated at the same time versus a two-stage process, when these are separately submitted.

The Department of Public Works and Highways is waiting for the “final and executory decision from the Office of the President on the President’s directive to rebid Calax.” This would signal the start of the rebid process, Singson said.

The P20.1-billion floor price matches the offer of a unit of San Miguel Corp., which was disqualified by the DPWH bids and awards committee last June because of a technical error. That decision was appealed by SMC and the disqualification, in an order by President Aquino last Nov. 19, was reversed.

Apart from the SMC subsidiary, the three other original bidders were the tandem between Ayala Corp. and Aboitiz Land Inc., which was the original frontrunner although its bid was P8.4-billion short of SMC’s offer, a unit of Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Malaysia’s AlloyMTD Group.

Malacañang ordered a rebid because of the wide gap between the qualified frontrunner and SMC, saying the difference could be financial important infrastructure developments and socialized housing.

The Calax rebid process comes as the DPWH moves forward with the auction of another project, the P23-billion Laguna lakeshore expressway dike. The PPP Center said in a statement Wednesday that 24 companies have bought prequalification documents for the Laguna Lakeshore deal.

The 47-kilometer flood control dike and 6-lane expressway will run from Taguig in Metro Manila through the towns of Calamba to Los Baños in Laguna. It also includes a land reclamation component involving 700 hectares in Laguna Lake, which can be developed by the winning bidder into mixed-use commercial projects.