MWSS sets Sept 27 pre-bid conference for Maynilad

The Special Bids and Awards Committee of the Metropolitan Waterworks & Sewerage System (MWSS) has set a pre-bidding conference on Sept. 27 with the four groups vying for the government’s stake in cash-strapped Maynilad Water Services Inc.

The pre-bid conference will be held at 9 a.m at the L.B. Soriano Hall of Seameo Innotech along Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City.

The groups interested in bidding for Maynilad include the tandem of Metro Pacific Corp. and the Consunji family’s DM Consunji Inc., a group led by Ayala-owned Manila Water Co. Inc. and partners JW International and BPI Capital Corp.; the consortium of Rubia Holdings-Noonday Asset Management Asia Pte. Ltd. of Singapore; and Karunakaran Ramchand of India.

Oscar I. Garcia, chairman of the MWSS Special Bids and Awards Committee, said the conference is a chance for the bidders to consult and clarify all matters before the committee.

The submission of technical and financial bid proposals has been set on Oct. 24 while the opening of the sealed envelopes is scheduled on Nov. 10. The notice of award to the winning bidder, on the other hand, has been scheduled on Nov. 14.

The bidders have until Oct. 20 to conduct due diligence, the committee said.

The government has set a minimum bid price of $56.4 million for its 83.97-percent stake in Maynilad. French utilities group Suez SA owns the remaining 16.03 percent.

The amount is on top of the $30-million performance bond and the $2.5-million bid guarantee required on bidders that passed the technical and business criteria.

ABN-AMRO is the financial advisor of the government in the privatization of its shares in Maynilad.

Under the terms of reference approved by the board of directors of Maynilad, the winning bidder will take over and continue operations of the west zone for the remaining years of the 25-year concession.

The winning bidder will also assume Maynilad’s obligations under a "debt and capital restructuring agreement" with the MWSS.

Maynilad submitted itself to court rehabilitation and ceded control of the franchise to MWSS following its failure to pay fees and other dues to the water regulatory agency. It blamed its financial woes on the financial crisis that battered Asia in 1997.

Maynilad serves six million customers in Manila, Makati and Quezon City and the whole of Malabon, Navotas, Muntinlupa, Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Valenzuela and several Cavite towns.