Floor price for Calax rebid ‘challenging,’ says MVP

The group of Manuel V. Pangilinan is awaiting the final terms that will govern the rebid of the 45-kilometer Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax), even as the executive deems the floor price of P20.1 billion “extremely challenging.”

“In the end, it depends on the terms and conditions. Let’s wait for that,” Pangilinan told reporters last month when asked if infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), which he chairs, would join the rebidding of Calax under the government’s public-private partnership or PPP initiative.

But Pangilinan said the minimum bid price of P20.1 billion as earlier announced by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)—which is equivalent to the offer of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. for the project last June—is an “extremely challenging number.”

Pangilinan noted that the P11.33-billion offer of MPIC unit MPCALA Holdings Inc. during the previous bidding was even lower than that of Team Orion.

The Aboitiz and Ayala groups’ Team Orion consortium, which had a bid of P11.66 billion, had been declared the winner to build and operate the P35.4-billion Calax, after San Miguel unit Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc. was disqualified due to a four-day deficiency on its bid bond.

President Aquino, however, announced last November that the government would rebid the project. Aquino had said he preferred a rebid because of the P8.4-billion gap between the offers of Optimal Infrastructure Development and Team Orion. The money could be used to develop crucial infrastructure or provide socialized housing, the President had noted.

Last December, the DPWH said it would rebid Calax this May.

Team Orion already said it would no longer join the rebidding, while San Miguel would again participate in the process.