DOTC, Megawide ink deal

MANILA, Philippines–The government is signing Wednesday the concession agreement for its ninth public-private partnership project, the Integrated Transport System-Southwest Terminal, the Department of Transportation and Communications announced on Tuesday.

The DOTC said it would sign the 35-year contract to build and operate the ITS-Southwest Terminal with the MWM Terminals consortium, led by Megawide Construction Corp., which won the project last month.

The government’s ITS projects are meant to create intermodal hubs where provincial buses would disembark passengers who would then 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 ITS-Southwest project will be located near the Manila Cavite Expressway and is expected to be finished by April 2017.

The government has already awarded eight projects under its PPP Program although a larger number, or about 50 projects worth over $20 billion, remain in the pipeline.

The eight awarded projects are the Muntinlupa Cavite Expressway (formerly DaangHari-Slex Link Road), PPP for school infrastructure project (Phase 1), Naia 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.

The DOTC plans 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.

For this project, Ayala Land Inc., Filinvest Land Inc., Datem Inc. and MWM Terminals have already hurdled the qualification process.

It also plans to launch an ITS project located in the northern part of Metro Manila. Among the locations being reviewed are the Veterans Memorial Hospital and Golf Course  and  Manila Seedling Bank, both located in Quezon City.