P15.5-B NAIA expressway project: Bidders given more time to prepare offers

MANILA, Philippines - The government has postponed anew the bidding for the P15.5-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport expressway project to give interested companies more time to finalize their bid documents.

Cosette Canilao, executive director of the PPP Center, told reporters on the sidelines of the groundbreaking of the Harbor Link project at the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) that the deadline for the submission of bids for the NAIA expressway project has been moved to April 8 instead of Feb. 24.

Canilao said the deadline was extended upon request of the pre-qualified bidders for more time to prepare their documents in light of the holidays during the Holy Week at the end of March.

 â€œThey needed more time,” she told reporters.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has set the deadline for the submission of bids on Feb. 26 while the notice of award has been scheduled in April.

The government originally set the bidding in June 2012 but postponed it to this year to give interested parties more time to finalize their bids.

Canilao said four groups that prequalified for the bidding include diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp. of Hong Kong’s First Pacific, publicly-listed conglomerate Ayala Corp., and Indian-owned M/S IL and FS Transportation Network.

Prior to pre-qualification, a total of 13 firms including DM Consunji, EEI Corp., Megawide Construction Corp., Macquarie Capital Securities, EGIS Projects, Alloy MTD Philippines, J.E. Manalo Construction, Daelim Philippines and C.M. Pancho Construction have signified interest to bid for the project.

The NAIA Expressway is composed of two phases wherein the first phase started in 2003 and was completed in 2010. It is a fully elevated expressway that runs from the Metro Manila Skyway to Sales Road near NAIA Terminal 3 with on and down ramps beside the Resorts World complex.

The proposed alignment for Phase II has an approximate length of 4.83 kilometers for the main expressway from its tie in point at the terminus of Phase I to its connection with Roxas Boulevard/Manila Cavite Toll Expressway and Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard and Entertainment City.

It is one of the big-ticket infrastructure projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) program of the Aquino administration that aims to reduce to eight minutes the average 24-minute travel time for passengers from Skyway to NAIA Terminal I.

The project was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) last May and will involve a four-lane elevated expressway with a total length of 7.15 kilometers.

Construction of the expressway that was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) last May is expected to take approximately two years with full operations scheduled to start in 2016.