Business World, 25 November 2014
By Chrisee Jalyssa V. Dela Paz
 
FOUR FIRMS have sought to qualify for the auction of the P4-billion contract to build an integrated transport hub near the Food Terminal, Inc. compound in Taguig City, the second of its kind to be rolled out under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.
 
An official of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) yesterday identified the prospective bidders that submitted pre-qualification documents for the project as: Ayala Land, Inc.; Datem, Inc.; Filinvest Land, Inc.; and MWM Terminals of Megawide Construction Corp.

Upon completion of preliminary evaluation, DoTC’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) determined that only four out of six prospective bidders submitted pre-qualification documents on Tuesday.

“Only four of six interest bidders proceeded. Robinson’s Land Corp. and San Miguel Corp. — through a letter submitted to us — decided not to submit pre-qualification documents,” DoTC Spokesperson Michael Arthur C. Sagcal said at the sidelines of the event in Mandaluyong City.

Officials of San Miguel and Robinson’s could not be reached immediately for comment.

DoTC had called for parties interested in the ITS-South project in September.

The department will later announce a timetable for the second stage of the bidding process, involving a pre-bid conference and actual submission of bids for the ITS-South Terminal project, Mr. Sagcal told reporters. “The list of qualified bidders will be announced within the year,” he said.

A project brief of the PPP Center showed ITS-South involves the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of the facility that will give commuters from Laguna and Batangas access to other transport systems, such as the future North-South Commuter Railway project.

The ITS-South project will be executed under a 35-year build-transfer-operate (BTO) deal with the government, inclusive of construction period.

OTHER PROJECTS
Besides ITS-South, DoTC is also looking at building similar integrated transport hubs in northern and south-western Metro Manila.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya told reporters last week that the department is studying a site near Veterans Memorial Medical Center for ITS-North. Apart from that site, other prospective locations are the former Manila Seedling Bank, the Philippine National Railways site in Caloocan City and the University of the Philippines Diliman campus.

Asked if these locations are still options, Mr. Abaya replied: “Yes, they’re still options. Adding to that is the Veterans.”

A look at the PPP Center Web site showed the hub in the northern part of Metro Manila is meant to serve long-haul provincial and short-distance city transport service providers. Project cost, however, has yet to be determined.

For the P2.5-billion ITS-Southwest Terminal project, deadline of submission of bids will be on Dec. 1. Firms that have bought bid documents for ITS-Southwest are Ayala Land, Inc.; D.M. Wenceslao and Associates, Inc.; Egis Projects Philippines; Expedition Construction Corp.; Filinvest Land, Inc.; Megawide Construction Corp.; Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.; Robinsons Land Corp.; San Miguel Corp.; States Properties Corp.; and Vicente T. Lao Construction Corp.

The ITS-Southwest project — to be built on a 4.59-hectare site — will give commuters from Cavite access to other systems such as the future Light Rail Transit Line 1 South Extension. It will be executed also under a 35-year BTO deal, inclusive of construction period.

More detailed timetables for the two ITS projects have not yet been released by the Transportation department.