SMC, MPIC buy bid documents for Calax project

MANILA, Philippines–San Miguel Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and a third group have acquired bid documents for the re-auction of the 45.5-kilometer Cavite-Laguna Expressway deal, a government source said.

The development suggests continued interest in the public private partnership deal, which drew controversy in 2014 after the disqualification of SMC over a typographical error in its bid security and the subsequent reversal of that disqualification and rebid order by Malacañang.

The Calax project, which aims to provide a new toll road from Metro Manila to booming and “industrialized” provinces south of the capital district, also carries a high price tag under its revised terms: A P20.1-billion minimum premium bid requirement on top of its P35.4-billion construction cost.

The winner will design, build and operate the expressway for 35 years.

The bid documents for the current round were purchased by the three players last week, after the Department of Public Works and Highways published the instructions to bidders last March 10, the DPWH official with knowledge of the matter said.

The same official said the unidentified group, which is a “new player,” has so far declined to divulge its identity. The documents were acquired through Filipino business consultancy firm Reyes Tacandong & Co., the individual said.

Only companies that have acquired bid documents, pegged at a “minimal” P100,000 cost, would be allowed to submit actual bids, which are due on May 19, 2015.

SMC president Ramon S. Ang said last week that the conglomerate was sure to participate while Ramoncito Fernandez, president of MPIC’s tollroad arm Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., said the group had yet to decide whether it would submit an offer by May.

“We are still studying this. We bought the documents just to make sure there’s that option to participate,” Fernandez said in an interview last week.

The two groups remain keen partly because the Calax project would have links to both the Manila Cavite Expressway of Metro Pacific Tollways and South Luzon Expressway of SMC.

The two other original bidders, a consortium led by Ayala Corp. and a unit of Aboitiz Equity Ventures as well as Malaysia’s AlloyMTD Group, have categorically stated that they would not participate in the re-auction.

The high bid price was cited as a factor that would discourage interested bidders.

The P20.1-billion floor price was included to match SMC’s offer last year, which turned out to be the highest.

However, it could not be considered because the conglomerate, which has interests in food, beverage, toll roads, oil refining and banking, was disqualified over a four-day deficiency in its bid bond validity.

The Ayala-Aboitiz tandem, which emerged as the frontrunner after SMC’s disqualification, offered P11.66 billion.