CONSTRUCTION of the P2.5-billion intermodal terminal southwest of Metro Manila should start early in the fourth quarter of the year after the government awarded late Friday the contract to the consortium led by Megawide Construction Corp.
Transportation Spokesman Michael Arthur C. Sagcal said the Department of Transportation and Communications had issued the notice of award late Friday, after a quick but thorough review of the MWM Terminals’s bid, which carried a request for P100-million annual subsidy all throughout the 35-year concession period.
“MWM Terminals has now until February 12 to complete post-award requirements. We are aiming to sign the concession agreement by the fourth week of February,” he told reporters via text message on Friday evening.
So far, the P2.5-billion Integrated Transport System (ITS) Southwest Terminal is the first public-private partnership (PPP) contract that the government has awarded this year.
“The proponent will have eight months from then to begin construction, and another 18 months—or until the end of April 2017—to start operations,” Sagcal said.
The consortium is led by Megawide, a mainstay in the PPP arena, and Walter Mart Property Management Inc. of billionaire and retail magnate Henry Sy.
The group’s bid was declared superior over its only competitor’s offer. Filinvest Land Inc. sought for a higher P650-million annual subsidy.
This is the second key infrastructure contract in which Megawide and Filinvest clashed. The first one being the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport, a deal whose awarding was delayed because of legal hurdles.
Megawide won the battle for the airport construction contract.
The multibillion-peso transport-terminal contract, meanwhile, provides for the construction of an intermodal terminal near the Manila-Cavite Expressway to connect passengers coming from Cavite to urban-transport systems in Metro Manila.
It will include a passenger-terminal building, arrival and departure bays, public-information systems, ticketing and baggage-handling facilities and park-ride facilities.
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.
Megawide has cemented its image as a mainstay in the government’s flagship infrastructure program, bagging a number of PPP projects, including the P16.42-billion PPP for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP) Phase 1; two of the five contracts under the P8.8-billion PSIP Phase 2; and the P5.7-billion deal for the construction, operation and maintenance of the Philippine Orthopedic Center.
The state intends to plug the gap in the country’s transportation infrastructure in the next decade by rolling out massive infrastructure projects that are seen to spur economic growth.