Capitol disqualified as bidder for SRP project

CEBU – The bid of Capitol to invest in the South Road Properties hit a roadblock yesterday.

The Joint Venture Selection Committee disqualified outright the competitive challenge submitted by the Provincial Government to develop a 50-hectare area of the SRP.

City Administrator and chairperson of JVSC Francisco Fernandez said the members unanimously disqualified the eligibility requirements submitted by the Provincial Capitol against the unsolicited proposal of Filinvest Land Incorporated.

“We disqualified them because they are not a private sector and the jurisdiction of the Ordinance for those qualified are only private entities,” Fernandez said.

The group was referring to the Ordinance Prescribing Guidelines and Procedure Entering into Joint Venture Agreement with Private Entities Consistent with NEDA Guidelines on Joint Venture.

“Granting without admitting they are qualified, the bid documents were submitted late, recorded at 11:30 in the morning, 30 minutes after deadline,” Fernandez said.

However even if it was late, the committee, Fernandez said still went on with the procedure and opened the documents.

“But even in its face value, klaro na kayo na we have no choice but to disqualify them,” Fernandez said.

The move to disqualify was filed through a motion by JVSC Vice Chairman Juancho Montecillo and seconded by JVSC member Engr. Nicomedes Leonor.

The Technical Working Group (TWG) assisting JVSC presented the documents submitted by the Provincial Government.

Atty. Richel Lim of the TWG said documents submitted at 11:30 yesterday morning include Supplemental Budget and Fund Availability and Statement of Fund Operations since 2005 until 2009 and Utilization of Development Fund for the year 2005.

Then the second set of documents, Lim said, which arrived at 2:02 in the afternoon, included the Statement of Income and Expenses, Cash Flow and Balance Sheets from the years 2005 to 2007; the Build Transfer Operate Agreement between the Provincial Government and 5th Avenue Property Development Corporation for Ciudad.

During the deliberation, Montecillo questioned whether the submitted financial documents were duly audited by the Commission on Audit. They could not find such among the documents submitted.

Atty. Allan Gaviola of the TWG commented that the discussion of eligibility should not continue since the question to be answered at that moment was whether or not the Provincial Capitol is qualified as an entity to submit a counter proposal.

“There is no point in discussing whether they are qualified or not, they are not a private entity,” Gaviola said.

JVSC Member and City Treasurer Renee Empaces also said that the financial statements showed they cannot put up an equity needed for the JV activity, which is P25 billion.

The entity must prove it has an access to capital equivalent to the said amount.

In terms of technical requirement, the Province, according to JVSC member Nigel Paul Villarete cannot submit the BTO Agreement of Ciudad, which is still ongoing.

One pre-qualification requirement is that the challenger must have completed a developed contiguous project of at least 35 hectares of commercial business district or residential development.

The Provincial Government acquired the complete set of eligibility documents last December 17. — Ferliza C. Contratista/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)