P35.4-B roadwork continues to attract big guns

The administration’s next big-ticket project under its public-private partnership (PPP) program—the 47-kilometer Cavite Laguna Expressway—continues to attract some of the largest players from the Philippines and abroad.

Officials of conglomerates like San Miguel Corp., Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Malaysia’s MTD Group all reported that they would submit pre-qualification documents in time for Wednesday’s deadline.

The P35.4-billion expressway deal, which will be auctioned off in early 2014, still has some kinks that need to be worked out. This includes a burdensome real property tax, or RPT, which implementing agency Department of Public Works and Highways and the PPP Center are still sorting out, PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao said.

“The RPT is still under consideration,” Canilao said in a text message.

Bidders raised this concern after the DPWH released a bid bulletin on Sept. 24, stating that the RPT requirement, which was partly blamed for the failure of a P60-billion railway extension from Manila to Cavite, must be shouldered by the concessionaire.

But bidders were nonetheless keen on the project as they expressed hope that the government would change its tune.

“We remain interested in Cala [Cavite Laguna Expressway],” Ayala managing director Eric Francia said via e-mail.

Separately, San Miguel president Ramon S. Ang told the Inquirer in a text message that the company would submit prequalification documents.

San Miguel, which has been present in most PPP auctions, earlier bagged the Naia Expressway Phase II deal, which it hopes to start construction by the beginning of 2014.

Ramoncito Fernandez, who heads the toll road arm of Metro Pacific Investments, and Isaac David, president of MTD Philippines, also said that their respective companies would participate in the auction.

Canilao said a total of 18 companies bought pre-qualification documents for the Cavite-Laguna Expressway project, which seeks to decongest traffic along the Cavite-Laguna road network and reduce travel time to and from Metro Manila.