THE GOVERNMENT is capping this year’s public partnership (PPP) effort with the rollout of the P2.5-billion Integrated Transport System (ITS) Southwest Terminal, part of an intermodal approach to facilitating travel within Metro Manila.

The Department of Transportation and Communications on Friday called on interested parties to submit offers to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the facility under a 35-year concession.

The Southwest Terminal, which will be constructed near the Manila-Cavite Expressway, will connect passengers coming from Cavite to Metro Manila transportation systems such as the Light Rail Transit Line 1, city buses, taxis and other public utility vehicles.

It will include a passenger terminal building, arrival and departure bays, public information systems, ticketing and baggage handling facilities and park-ride facilities.

The Southwest project is the first of three transport terminals the government wants built. The two others — one near Food Terminal Inc. in Taguig and another in the north — have yet to be offered to interested bidders.

The single-stage ITS-Southwest auction is open to both local and foreign groups that, among others, should have completed a development project with a cumulative cost of P2 billion or a cumulative capacity of 300 parking bays in the last 10 years.

Bid documents will be issued on Jan. 10, 2014 and interested investors have until May 15 to submit their offers.

The ITS-Southwest deal is the latest PPP project rolled out by the Aquino administration, which is aiming to bow out in 2016 with seven projects completed.

Since the flagship infrastructure program’s launch in late 2010, one five out of 48 projects in the pipeline have been awarded:

• the P1.96-billion Daang Hari-South Luzon express way project, bagged by Ayala Corp in 2011;

• P16.42-billion first phase of the PPP School Infrastructure Program (PSIP), which was granted to two consortiums last year;

• the P3.86-billion PSIP Phase II contract, partially awarded to two different parties this year;

• the P15.68-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport expressway, bagged by a San Miguel Corp. unit this year; and

• the P5.69-billion Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center contract that wen to the Megawide Construction Corp.-World Citi Inc. consortium.

27 December 2013