The bidding process for the fresh auction of the P35.42-billion Cavite-Laguna Express-way (Calax) deal will be launched next month, officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) disclosed on Friday.
The agency, according to a highly placed source, is planning to publish the project’s invitation to bid by December.
“The department aims to start the bidding process by next month. The DPWH is just finalizing the details of the rebidding,” the insider said in a phone interview.
This information was confirmed by DPWH Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Officer in Charge Ariel C. Angeles, who said the agency will start publishing the invitation by the second week of December.
“Hopefully, we could start the process by the second week of December. We just have to come up with a resolution and have it approved by higher authorities, including our secretary,” he said, referring to Public Works Secretary Rogelio L. Singson.
The agency, he added, will finalize the resolution by next week.
“We have to come up with the details of the bidding process. We aim to issue the resolution by next week,” he noted.
The source, meanwhile, said one of the considerations for the rebidding is to conduct it under a single-stage process to shorten the time frame of the auction.
“Substantially, it will be under the same terms and conditions. The department is considering to implement the auction under a single-stage bidding process, but it is open to new investors, if any,” the source said.
The insider noted that the four qualified bidders for the original contract still have to qualify to win the project.
The minimum premium bid for the project, the source said, would be based on the highest offer received during the first auction. Team Orion of AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. and Aboitiz Land Inc. emerged as the front-runner during the auction, submitting an P11.66-billion premium to win the deal.
Rival Optimal Infrastructure Holdings Inc. , whose bid was disqualified after failing the evaluation of its technical proposal, allegedly offered a higher P20.1-billion premium.
“There is the intention of putting a P20.1-billion floor price. The first bidding looked as of it was a large market sounding activity, and the market responded with a desire for the project to the tune of P20.1 billion,” the source added.
President Aquino effectively voided the initial bidding conducted by the DPWH’s special bids and awards committee for the PPP project when he decided on Wednesday last week to put the contract to a fresh auction, ruing the P8-billion difference between the winning bid of Team Orion and disqualified party Optimal.
Currently, the four parties that previously participated in the original tender are at loggerheads over their participation in the fresh auction. San Miguel Corp. President and COO Ramon S. Ang has said his
firm’s subsidiary Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc. will participate in the bidding.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp., meanwhile, is still weighing the economic and political implications of the original auction. It, however, renewed its bid bond, signifying its intention to join the fresh tender.
MTD Philippines Inc. President Isaac S. David has expressed his firm’s disinterest in the deal, saying the government’s thirst for higher premium would be a deterrent to the riding public.
Team Orion has repeatedly said it will not join the tender, despite being the top bidder during the original auction held in June.
Business groups, led by the Makati Business Club, earlier warned President Aquino that his key infrastructure program’s good name may lose its credibility due to inconsistencies in rules, not to mention a violation of the law.
But the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the largest business group in the Philippines, backed Mr. Aquino’s decision, as this would maximize the economic benefits of the state from the bidding.
The project is a 47-kilometer thoroughfare that would start from the Manila-Cavite Expressway in Kawit, Cavite, and end at the South Luzon Expressway (Slex)-Mamplasan Interchange in Biñan, Laguna. It would consist of nine interchanges and a toll barrier before the Slex.
The third PPP project under the DPWH, the expressway is seen to decongest the traffic along the Cavite-Laguna road network.
The construction of the multibillion-peso expressway is seen to start by October next year and is expected to be completed by September 2017.
The government has awarded eight contracts since the infrastructure program’s inception in 2010. It aims to sign at least 15 contracts by the time President Aquino steps down from office in 2016.