The Philippine Star, 11 December 2013
By Lawrence Agcaoili
MANILA, Philippines – Several companies led by diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) have expressed interest in joining the rebidding of the P65 billion Light Rail Transit (LRT) Cavite extension project, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) reported yesterday.
DOTC spokesman Michael Arthur Sagcal said SMC, construction giant DMCI Holdings, Megawide Corp., and Spanish rail transport operator Globalvia have purchased bid documents for the Aquino government’s biggest infrastructure project.
“New players have indicated interest in bidding for the LRT1 Cavite PPP project,” Sagcal stressed.
He pointed out that the agency has started the ball rolling for major public private partnership (PPP) projects with the opening of the financial bids for the P1.7 billion Automated Fare Collection System (AFCS) project the other day and the scheduled opening of the financial bids of the P17.5 billion Mactan Cebu International Airport expansion project on Thursday.
“We are expediting work on our PPPs. Especially now that we are re-bidding the LRT1 Cavite Extension project and preparing to bid out the Integrated Transport System project later this month,” Sagcal stressed.
The DOTC is giving interested bidders until April 28 to submit their bids for the proposed LRT1 extension project. It has decided to expedite a single-stage process wherein interested groups would submit their qualification documents simultaneously with their technical and financial proposals to shorten the process by at least two months.
“In fact, we are expediting it. We will adopt the single-stage bidding process, and we will set the bid submission date in the earlier part of second quarter of 2014,” he added.
Under the revised terms, the government agreed to absorb the payment of real property taxes (RPT), ensure the integrity of the facility’s structure for a two-year period, permit a five-percent fare increase upon completion of the project, and allow the submission of negative bids.
It would be recalled that the DOTC and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) declared a failed bidding after only one of the four prequalified bidders – Light Rail Manila Consortium led by infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) – submitted a bid last Aug. 15 while other major proponents backed out due to concerns about the viability of the project.
Three bidders – MTD-Samsung Group, San Miguel Infrastructure Resources Inc., and DMCI Holdings Inc. – withdrew from the process due to concerns including who would shoulder the real estate taxes.
The cost of the project went up to P64.9 billion from P60 billion due to additional components that were originally intended to be pursued as separate projects but were included in the project to make it more robust.
The additional components include some remedial and rehabilitation works for the existing system such as repairing the carriage viaduct, rehabilitating existing trains especially their roofing, as well as making the LRT1 system compliant with laws and regulations.
Other components include the installation of equipment that would be part of the common ticketing system that is also being auctioned by the DOTC.
Also included are contingency costs, on account of the interface risk with related projects such as the AFCS PPP, the construction of the common station linking LRT-1 with MRT Lines 3 and 7 in the EDSA-North Ave. area, and the LRT-1 Cavite extension project components procured under the project’s official development assistance (ODA) portion.
