THE coast has been cleared for the fresh tender of the P35.42-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax) deal after the winning bidder for the initial auction decided not to exercise its right to legally challenge the controversial rebidding.
Team Orion of Aboitiz Land Inc. and AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. did not seek the intervention of the Supreme Court to allow the project to move on.
“We won’t stand in the way. We hope that the project is implemented soonest,” Ayala Corp. Managing Director John Eric T. Francia told the BusinessMirror in a brief text message.
Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. First Vice President Roman Anthony V. Azanza III said separately that Team Orion “expects that
the rebid will be conducted expeditiously, transparently and in line with the build-operate-transfer law.”
“In the interest of ensuring that this critical infrastructure project will not be further delayed, Team Orion will not be filing an appeal to the Office of the President’s decision,” he added.
This was confirmed by Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Officer in Charge Ariel C. Angeles, who said the rebidding
process could now move forward as Team Orion’s decision clears a roadblock to the tender. “We did not receive any appeal from them,” he said in a phone interview.
Angeles explained that the government gave the consortium 15 days to file an appeal. The group was allowed to seek legal recourse until December 10, Wednesday.
Despite this, the agency would still have to wait for a few more days before officially opening the auction process through a published invitation to bid.
“We can’t start the bidding process this week. But we will try to publish the invitation within the month. We are awaiting the President’s approval of the terms of reference and the bid process itself,” he explained.
The auction, Public Works Secretary Rogelio L. Singson said, would be conducted under the same terms and conditions of the initial bidding. It will also be implemented under a single-stage bidding process.
But despite having the same terms as the original tender, the agency will include the provision of a floor price of P20.1 billion in premium to ensure the government will receive a higher amount from the private sector.
President Aquino late last month decided to void the outcome of the deal’s original bidding, with Team Orion emerging as the top bidder with a premium bid of P11.33 billion.
The President’s decision came after four months of reviewing the petition of then-disqualified party San Miguel Corp., which urged Malacañang to declare its allegedly P20.1-billion bid as compliant.
Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc., a unit of the food-to-infrastructure firm, was disqualified from the initial tender after failing the evaluation of its technical proposal.
The firm’s bid bond, a form of security that supports the company’s claim that it has the financial capability to finish the project, was four days short of the required period.
The government expects to receive higher investor participation in the second auction for the deal. But the four original bidders are currently at loggerheads over their participation in the fresh tender.
Optimal, chaired by businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., an uncle of President Aquino, is firm in its decision to make a bid for the project anew.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which trailed Team Orion in the original auction, 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.
Team Orion and MTD Philippines Inc., on the other hand, are already disinterested in the deal. The latter will take a look at the contract’s new terms, but would more likely shy away from the auction.
Influential business groups 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.
On the other hand, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), 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 will link the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway and the South Luzon Expressway aimed at enhancing trade and socioeconomic activities in the region.
The private partner will take on the financing, design, construction, and operation and maintenance of the entire four-lane toll road.
The project will also include the construction of centralized toll plazas, a toll-collection system, viaducts and bridges.
The construction of the multibillion-peso expressway is seen to start by October next year and is expected to be completed in September 2017. But with the rebidding, this timetable might be pushed back by a year or two.
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.