Bidding for 9 PPP projects set in Q4

President Benigno Simeon Aquino III leads the Ceremonial Lighting of the Caticlan Airport Scale Model during the Inauguration of the newly renovated Caticlan Airport at the 2nd floor of the airport terminal building in Malay, Aklan. The Caticlan Airport Development Project is an example of Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The development is spearheaded by TransAire Development Holdings Corporation, a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation. TransAire is also proposing to rename Caticlan Airport as Boracay Airport but not yet approved by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). In the photo are DOF Secretary Cesar Purisima, DOTC Secretary Manuel Roxas II and San Miguel Corporation President Ramon Ang. FILE PHOTO/Rey Baniquet/Malacañang Photo Bureau

Despite the delays and the slow pace at which the public-private partnership (PPP) program is moving, the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines said a total of nine projects would be bid out to interested investors before the year ends.

PPP Center director Al Vitangcol III said all nine projects lined up for bidding this year would be placed on the auction block by the fourth quarter, mostly in December.

In an interview with reporters on Friday, he admitted that the entire process—from the completion of the feasibility studies to the formulation of the terms of reference and bid documents to the actual bidding—was “really slow.”

However, considering how things were moving now, he said the PPP Center was still on track to bidding out nine of the 10 projects that the government’s economic team committed to be placed on the auction block this year.

Bidding for one of the 10 projects, the operations and maintenance contracts for the Light Rail Transit Line 1 and Edsa Metro Rail Transit 3, has been suspended indefinitely pending the completion of a review being done by the Department of Transportation and Communications.

The deadline for the submission of bids for the LRT-MRT contracts was originally scheduled last July 11.

Despite that snag, the PPP Center last week published the bid invitation for the P1.96-billion Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway Road construction project.

By October, Vitangcol said the PPP Center would likely start inviting bidders for the P6.8-billion New Bohol (Panglao) airport project. This is now in the feasibility study phase.

Other projects to be bid out this year are the P8.85-billion LRT Line 2 East Extension, which is on the feasibility study stage; the P83.25-billion LRT Line 1 South Extension, which is on the feasibility study updating and bid documents preparation phase, and the P4.14-billion Puerto Princesa airport development project, which is on the same stage as the LRT Line 1 South Extension project.