DPWH awards Calax project to MVP group

The Department of Public Works and Highways Monday awarded to the group of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan the 45.5-kilometer Cavite Laguna Expressway public private partnership deal.

The move, which marks the 10th PPP deal awarded by the Aquino administration, paves the way for the start of the construction of the tollroad that would provide another link between Metro Manila and the provinces in South Luzon by 2020.

Metro Pacific unit MPCala Holdings bagged the project after its offer of P27.3 billion edged out sole rival San Miguel Corp., which offered P22.2 billion, in a bidding last month.

The said figures are premium bids, meaning they come on top of the tollroad’s estimated cost of P35.4 billion. The government had set at P20.1 billion the floor premium bid for Calax for the bidding last month, which was the second attempt to auction off the project as the first held last year failed.

“Both San Miguel Holdings and MPCala Holdings submitted very aggressive bids, so we would like to thank both of them for participating in this bidding,” Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson said yesterday.

“Unfortunately, we can only declare one winner and based on the resolution, MPCala is the best complying bid for the project,” he added.

The awarding took place at the DPWH head office, ending an auction process that was marked by high drama during its initial bidding round last year when SMC was disqualified due to a typographical error. That disqualification was later reversed by President Aquino, who also ordered the rebid that took place last month.

Ramoncito Fernandez, president of Metro Pacific’s tollroad arm Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., yesterday said the projected civil cost of Calax was P23 billion.

“We will be very eager to start the construction. As the Secretary (Singson) mentioned, we will go first with the detailed engineering simultaneous with the right of way acquisition of DPWH,” he said.

Metro Pacific Tollways operates the 14-km Cavite Manila Expressway in southern Metro Manila apart from the 90-km North Luzon Expressway and 94-km Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) north of the capital. It is also seeking to build an elevated connector road cutting through Metro Manila that would link NLEX with SMC’s South Luzon Expressway.

The Calax will be a four-lane expressway that will start at the Cavitex toll gate in Kawit, Cavite, and end at the SLEx-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna.

The government has awarded nine other PPP deals in the last five years.