Gov’t set to award Southwest terminal

MANILA, Philippines - The government is set to award its first public private partnership (PPP) project for 2015 as the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is scheduled to announce the winning bidder for the P2.5-billion Integrated Transport System – Southwest Terminal within this week.

DOTC Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla said the agency is set to announce the winner for the transportation hub to be situated at the Coastal Road Terminal along the Manila - Cavite expressway (Cavitex) after a careful evaluation of the bids submitted by MWM Terminals led by Filipino-owned Megawide Construction Corp. and Filinvest Land Inc. of taipan Andrew Gotianun.

“Yes we hope to do that this week,” Lotilla said.

MWM Terminals submitted an annual grantor payment (AGP) of P100 million while Filinvest Land offered an annual grantor payment of P650 million.

DOTC spokesperson Michael Arthur Sagcal earlier explained that AGP are payments to be made by the government to the concessionaire. “Lowest AGP wins, subject to evaluation of the bid,” Sagcal said.

A total of 16 companies bought prequalification documents for the PPP project but only Filinvest Land and MWM Terminals submitted qualification documents last Dec. 22. Other companies are San Miguel Corp., Ayala Corp., Ayala Land Inc., Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., Robinsons Land Inc., D.M. Wenceslao and Associates Inc., Vicente T. Lao Construction, French-owned Egis Projects Philippines, Megaworld Corp., State Properties Corp., Expedition Properties Corp., MGS Construction Inc., Altus San Nicolas Corp. and Tutuban Properties.

The proposed terminal to be situated in a 4.6-hectare property at the Coastal Road Terminal along the Manila-Cavite Expressway 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 roll out of PPP projects in the Philippines is in full swing after the award of eight PPP projects worth close to P133 billion. The government raised a premium payment of over P36 billion for the awarded PPP projects.

Submission of bids for the P4 billion ITS South Terminal at the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) complex in Taguig City has been moved to June 1 instead of April 13. Prequalified bidders include Ayala Land Inc., Filinvest Land, Megawide, and Datem Inc.

The South terminal would connect passengers from the Laguna and Batangas side to other urban transport systems such as the proposed North-South Commuter Rail of the Philippine National Railways, city buses, taxis, and other public utility vehicles that serve inner Metro Manila.

The DOTC is still identifying the final site for the ITS-North Terminal but is pursuing the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) complex.

The P7.7 billion ITS projects would maximize road usage by reducing vehicle volume and eliminating provincial bus traffic to improve traffic flow along Metro Manila’s major thoroughfares particularly EDSA.