Megawide group wins transport terminal project
MANILA, Philippines—The government awarded on Friday its ninth public private partnership (PPP) project, the Integrated Transport System-Southwest project (ITS), to a consortium led by Megawide Construction Corp.
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) said late Friday the Megawide-led MWM Terminals’ offer won over sole rival bidder Filinvest Land for a 35-year contract to build and operate the ITS-Southwest Terminal, which will be located near the Manila Cavite Expressway.
During the bidding, MWM Terminals, which includes the Sy family’s Waltermart retail group, offered that government pay it an annual fee of P100 million as against Filinvest Land’s P650 million offer for the 35-year concession period.
Grantor payment
Because both groups offered an annual grantor payment, the lowest offer is regarded the superior bid, DOTC Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla said.
“We have awarded the ITS-Southwest PPP project to MWM Terminals, which now has until February 12 to complete post-award requirements,” DOTC spokesperson Michael Sagcal said in a text message.
Completed by 2017
He added that the concession agreement would be signed by the fourth week of February. The project is expected to be finished by April 2017, Sagcal added.
The ITS projects are meant to create intermodal hubs where provincial buses would disgorge passengers to transfer to other in-city modes of transport such as elevated railways, city buses and UV Express vans. The move was aimed at easing congestion within Metro Manila.
The government earlier awarded eight projects under its PPP program although a larger number, or about 50 projects worth over $20 billion, remain in the pipeline.
Awarded projects
The awarded projects are the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway (formerly DaangHari-Slex Link Road), PPP for school infrastructure project (Phase 1), Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway Project, PPP for school infrastructure project (Phase II), Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center, Automatic Fare Collection System, Mactan-Cebu International Airport and the LRT-1 Cavite Extension.
Of these projects, Megawide-backed consortiums have bagged four contracts, including the two school infrastructure projects, the Cebu international airport and the Orthopedic Center deal. Megawide counts the family of taipan Henry Sy among its shareholders.
16 companies
As many as 16 companies, including conglomerates like San Miguel Corp., Ayala Corp. and Megaworld Corp., acquired bid documents for the ITS-Southwest project but only MWM and Filinvest submitted offers by the Dec. 22 deadline last year. Their financial bids were opened on Jan. 13.
The DOTC is planning two other ITS deals for Metro Manila.
It already rolled out the P4-billion ITS-South project, which will be located near the Food Terminal Inc. compound in Taguig City. For this project, Ayala Land Inc., Filinvest Land Inc., Datem Inc. and MWM Terminals have hurdled the qualification process.
It is also planning to launch an ITS project in the northern part of Metro Manila. Among the locations being eyed are the Veterans Memorial Medical Center and Golf Course and the Manila Seedling Bank, both located in Quezon City.
