Ayala rejoins MPIC in LRT-1 Ext rebidding

MANILA, Philippines - Conglomerate Ayala Corp. has revived interest in the P65 billion Light Rail Transit line 1 (LRT1) Cavite extension project by rejoining infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) in the rebidding of the Aquino administration’s biggest public private partnership (PPP) project in April.

 In a text message, John Eric Francia, managing director and group head of corporate and strategy at Ayala Corp., said the conglomerate is keen on keeping the members of the Light Rail Manila Consortium.

“We are finalizing arrangements. Our intent is to keep the consortium,” Francia said.

When the consortium was prequalified last year, MPIC and Ayala led the consortium each with a 33 percent interest followed by AC Infra Holdings Corp. with 12 percent, Macguarie Infra Holdings Philippines PTE Ltd with 10 percent, and RATP Development SA with one participation unit.

Prequalified entities of the consortium include Bouygues travaux Publics SA, Leighton Contractors Asia Ltd., Alstom Transport SA, Ansaldo STS SPA, and RATP Development SA.

However, the Ayala Group did not join MPIC in the consortium when it submitted its technical and financial proposals on Aug. 15 last year due to concerns about the viability of the project.

Aside from the Light Rail Manila consortium, DOTC spokesperson Michael Arthur Sagcal said three other pre-qualified bidders that withdrew from the bidding last August including the SMC Infra Resources Inc. of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), construction giant DMCI Holdings Inc., and Malaysian-owned MTD Philippines Inc. are also joining the rebidding.

In addition, the DOTC spokesman said new players led by Globalvia Inversiones of Spain and Megawide Construction Corp. have also indicated interest in the project.

“These developments signify confidence in the improved terms of the project.  We look forward to more groups joining the bid,” Sagcal said.

The DOTC is giving interested bidders until April 28 to submit their bids for a single-stage bidding wherein interested groups would submit their qualification documents simultaneously with their technical and financial proposals to shorten the process by at least two months.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board chaired by President Aquino approved last Nov. 21 the revised terms for the project including the payment of real property taxes (RPT) by the government, ensuring the integrity of the facility’s structure for a two-year period, approving a five-percent fare increase upon completion of the project, and allowing the submission of negative bids.

Among the more contentious issues in the previous tender during a pre-bid conference last Monday had to do with the progress of government’s right-of-way (ROW) acquisition for the project.

Sagcal said the DOTC informed the participants that the government has already completed 92.34 percent of the ROW acquisition requirement for the Baclaran-Dr. Santos segment followed by 69.2 percent for the Dr. Santos-Zapote segment; and 84.2 percent for the Zapote-Niog segment.

He added that the agency also highlighted the impending tender for the construction of the P1.4-billion common station to connect LRT-1 with the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 (MRT3), and the future MRT7 in the EDSA-North Avenue area.

Likewise, the DOTC also briefed the participants about the P2.5-billion Integrated Transport System Southwest Terminal to be constructed on Coastal Road connecting to the LRT1 system.