Ayala, Filinvest vie for PPP deal

Ayala Land Inc. and Filinvest Land Inc. are vying for the Department of Transportation and Communication’s P4-billion Integrated Transport System-South public private partnership (PPP) project as they submitted bids yesterday while two other groups backed out.

Jose Perpetuo Lotilla, transportation undersecretary and chair of the bids and awards committee, told reporters during Friday’s bid submission that Megawide Construction Corp. and Datem Inc. did not submit offers.

Lotilla said the department would still need to evaluate both Ayala Land’s and Filinvest Land’s technical proposals before opening their financial offers.

He added that they hope to award the ITS-South deal, which calls for the construction of a public transportation hub near the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) compound in Taguig, within August 2015.

A Megawide spokesperson said they were currently focused on other projects. A consortium between Megawide and Henry Sy’s Walter Mart Group already bagged this year the government’s first ITS project, which is the ITS-Southwest located near the Manila Cavite Expressway. Megawide, with its partners, had also won key airport and hospital deals under the PPP Program.

The ITS projects are designed to create intermodal hubs where provincial buses would disembark passengers to transfer to other in-city modes of transport such as elevated railways, city buses and UV Express vans. The move was also aimed at easing congestion around Metro Manila.

The DOTC said construction of the ITS-South project would begin by the second quarter of 2016, while the terminal is set to open in December 2017.

The winning bidder will take care of the design, construction and operations and maintenance of the terminal for a concession period of 35 years.

The ITS-South project covers the construction of a terminal within a 4.7-hectare lot along FTI Compound. It will connect passengers coming from the south, specifically the Batangas and Laguna area, to other public utility vehicles serving inner Metro Manila.

The project also includes the construction of arrival and departure bays, public information systems, ticketing and baggage facilities and park-ride facilities.

The DOTC is also planning to roll out a third ITS project, which will likely be located in the Veterans Memorial Hospital and Golf Course in Quezon City. Lotilla said they need to finalize talks with the Department of Defense on the location of the ITS-North within the year.