JBIC OKs list of firms for P19-B road project

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) issued recently an official concurrence to the three Japanese joint venture contractors pre-qualified earlier by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) for the construction of the first phase of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project (SCTEP).

The initial phase (package 2), consisting of a 44-km, four-lane super highway that will connect Clark to Tarlac and vice-versa, is slated to begin construction by February or early March next year. Its completion target is by year 2006.

BCDA earlier announced the pre-qualification of three Japanese joint venture firms that includes MTI Joint Venture, Hazama-Taisei-Nippon Steel Joint Venture, and KOJM Joint Venture.

In a letter to BCDA president and CEO Rufo Colayco, JBIC’s chief representative, Mitsuru Taruki said that the bank (JBIC) does not have any objections to the request of BCDA to approve its pre-qualified list of Japanese joint venture construction firms.

The three firms namely, MTI Joint Venture which is composed of the Maeda Corp., the Toyo Construction Co. Ltd., and Ishikawa-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., The Hazama-Taisei-Nippon Steel Corp. and the KOJM Joint Venture comprised of The Kajima Corp., the Obayashi Corp., JFE Engineering Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. were short listed by BCDA earlier this month.

Following JBIC’s concurrence, BCDA announced that it has already started issuing bid documents to the three pre-qualified Japanese firms. The opening of the tender or bid documents is set for Dec. 24, this year.

The government received an ODA (overseas development assistance) loan from JBIC in the amount of ¥41,931 million, which represents 85 percent of the total package cost of the 94.5 km toll highway.

The total project cost of SCTEP is pegged at $374.78 million or P18.74 billion, 85 percent of which will come from JBIC and the remaining 15 percent from counterpart funds from BCDA.

Once finished, SCTEP would allow travel time between the two eco-zones to be shortened to 30 minutes, compared to the present two-hour drive.

With JBIC’s concurrence of the short-listed firms, Colayco said that he’s hoping that there would be no further delays that would occur, as the government would like to meet the targeted timeless for the proposed expressway project.