DOTC extends deadline of bids submission for South bus terminal

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has extended the deadline for the submission of bids for the proposed P2.5 billion Integrated Transport System (ITS) project – Southwest Terminal under the Aquino administration’s public private partnership (PPP) program.

In a general bid bulletin, DOTC undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla, has issued General Bid Bulletin 09 - 2014 has deferred the date of the submission of bids to June 16 instead of May 15 to give bidders more time to prepare their documents.

“In order to give ample time for the bidders to prepare for a competitive tender, the deadline for the submission of bids is hereby moved from May 15 to June 16,” Lotilla stated in the bulletin dated April 11.

A total of seven firms including the country’s largest conglomerates are set to bid for the project. These include diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp., property giant Ayala Land Inc., Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Robinsons Land Inc. of taipan John Gokongwei, D.M. Wenceslao and Associates Inc., Vicente T. Lao Construction, and French-owned Egis Projects Philippines.

The Southwest terminal project is situated in a 2.9-hectare property located at the Coastal Road terminal along the Manila-Cavite Expressway. It would connect passengers coming from Cavite to other urban transport systems such as the future Light Rail Transit line 1 (LRT) South Extension to Bacoor in Cavite , city bus, taxi, and other public utility vehicles plying Metro Manila.

The project would include a passenger terminal building, arrival and departure bays, public information system, ticketing and baggage handling facilities and park-ride facilities.

The P7.7 billion ITS project was one of the seven major infrastructure projects worth P184.2 billion approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board chaired by President Aquino last Nov. 21.

The project involves the establishment of  three mass transportation intermodal terminals at the outskirts of Metro Manila – one in the north of EDSA serving passengers to and from northern Luzon and two in the south serving passengers to and from Laguna or Batangas side and those to and from the Cavite side.

The establishment of a transportation system at FTI and PRA involves the development of two mass transportation terminals at the Southern outskirts of Metro Manila particularly at FTI Property in FTI Compound in Taguig City and the Coastal Road Terminal at PRA property beside Asiaworld/Uniwide along Manila-Cavite Expressway (R-1) Expressway in Parañaque City.