DOTC, ALI set to sign bus hub contract

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and Ayala Land Inc. will sign today the contract for a bus hub public private partnership project in Taguig, Metro Manila, a media advisory showed.

The signing of the concession deal paves the way for the construction of the PPP project, formally known as the Integrated Transport System-South deal, which is expected to be completed in 2018.

The ITS-South, one of three that will be built around Metro Manila, will be a hub where provincial buses will disembark passengers to transfer to other in-city modes of transport such as elevated railways, city buses and UV Express vans.

The projects are aimed at easing road congestion within Metro Manila.

Ayala Land was awarded the project in November 2015 after the developer, a subsidiary of conglomerate Ayala Corp., emerged the best bidder for the P4-billion deal.

To win the project, Ayala Land offered that government pay it P277.89 million annually to undertake the project, while the only other rival bidder,  Filinvest Land Inc., offered that it be paid P1 billion a year.

The DOTC earlier said construction was set to commence in August 2016 and be completed in 18 months.

Operations of the terminal will be in full swing by February 2018. The site of the ITS South Project is next to ARCA South, where ALI is developing an integrated mixed-use estate.

ALI will be responsible for the design and construction of the new terminal, which will be situated on a 5.6-hectare parcel of land.

This project will connect passengers traveling from neighboring provinces such as Laguna and Batangas to other modes of transport including buses, taxis and jeepneys, it said.

The private concessionaire will operate and maintain the terminal for 35 years.

ALI earlier estimated that up to 4,000 buses and 160,000 passengers will feed into ITS South from South Luzon Expressway per day.

The  ITS-South is the second ITS PPP project awarded by the current administration.

The first ITS project, known as the ITS Southwest, which will be built near the Manila Cavite Expressway, was bagged last year by a consortium led by Megawide Construction Corp. and Henry Sy’s Walter Mart Group.

A final ITS project will be located in Quezon City to cater to buses coming from provinces north of the capital district.

The DOTC is in discussions with the Department of Defense to use part of the Veterans Memorial Hospital and Golf Course as the site for the ITS-North.